Theme Day
by Ladelle
Summary: Kiba is an interstellar bounty hunter who gets more than he bargained for when he reports for duty...and gets Naruto instead. NaruKiba. Space Pirates! For Skully's contest of epic epicness.
1. Theme Day

**Theme Day**

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**Author:** Ladelle

**Rating**: M

**Comments:** Quick break from SL and MLC in order to write Space Pirates for Skully for a contest fr a contest of sorts! Thank you Reyndor for giving me a couple of fun ideas. :D

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Most of them did not know his identity and could barely make out the embellished wolf on the back of his heavy leather jacket, fangs exposed and fur bristling. The ones who recognized the insignia stumbled into meek salutes, however, and Kiba Inuzuka nodded to them noncommittally as he strode forward, his knee-high black boots sounding harshly against the chalk white walkway.

Frowning, Kiba shook his head, sending his shaggy chestnut hair to his cheekbones and away from his eyes. From beside him, his beast matched his temperament. The four-foot tall hound at his side growled tersely, as if reading his master's foul mood. A thick mane of white fur found its way to Kiba's fingers, and the registered bounty hunter dutifully scratched behind the mutt's ears.

"Sorry, boy," Kiba sighed softly. "You know how I get when the confederation tries to make it a point that they own me."

With his free hand, Kiba fished out a digital pad from his pocket, and hastily thumbed his password into the screen. The note resurfaced, freshly texted to him not a few hours beforehand.

_Kiba Inuzuka to report at 0900 hours. Failure to show will result in a warrant under statute BG-E90._

"Fucking federation," Kiba snorted, and jammed the device back into his jacket pocket.

As he approached the entranceway for the Department of Interstellar Conduct, he slapped his hand against an external palmreader and grimaced when he felt the heat from laser imprinting on his skin. When the doors started to slide open, motioned towards his hound and together, they entered.

Rushing forward through the crowded lobby, a buff security guard in white leather came to greet Kiba. The greeting soured when his eyes found Kiba's mutt, and the man cleared his throat. "Article ten-dash-three of the—"

"—of the Erasation of Disease Carrying Mammals, blah blah. He's a cybark, and I swear, if I'm late reporting to the head because you've got a problem with Akamaru, _you're_ taking it up with the higher-ups, not me."

"He looks like a dog to me," the guard said matter-of-factly, and Kiba wondered how well the confederation was doing if they hired idiots like this to perform security inspections.

Kiba frowned. "Look harder."

Akamaru growled and glared up, and the moment their eyes met, the guard turned as pale as his skin-tight uniform. He took a step back and his hand immediately went to find his phaser. "T-that's…"

Kiba rubbed Akamaru's snout and admired his companion's features. While one eye was a perfect and crystalline blue, the other was a series of silver rings that cradled a delicate red laser lens. Though the guard couldn't see, Kiba was also aware that every piece of his pup's bones and organs were manufactured.

"Who'd wanna kill a beautiful creature like this?" Kiba waved his hand about sarcastically. "That one's easy. The city, of course, for fear of disease and all of that Erasation bullshit. The real question is who saves the poor canines out there, and that's the part you should remember."

Akamaru snapped his teeth together, making it very apparent that with steel jaws, it would take more than a bullet to take him down. Kiba turned to walk away from the gaping security guard, but not before glancing over his shoulder for effect. "You ever cross an Inuzuka, _that's_ what you've gotta deal with."

The guard didn't follow and Kiba heaved a sigh of relief. Akamaru stuck close to his side, and Kiba cursed when he caught sight of a digital clock that stated he was nearing on ten minutes late. He didn't bother hastening his pace, but he worried over the potential consequences.

The door to the Head Commander's office wasn't too far down the main hallway and after rapping on it a couple of times and receiving no response, Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm glad _I_ got the memo," he cursed, repeating what the text message had said in his head.

As he was about to go to the electronic concierge, a sound caught his attention. Akamaru sniffed at the doorway, a sign that he had heard it as well. Patience dwindling, Kiba turned the handle and let himself in.

And suddenly stopped and raised an eyebrow at the sight before him.

The commander's desk was a bulky thing, with cyber pads and tablets strewn everywhere. There was a man rifling through them, and he paused as Kiba came to a standstill, brows raising over eyes the color of sun-licked glaciers.

"Uh…" Kiba started, somewhat distracted. "Are you the head of the Department of Insterstellar Conduct for this colony?"

Pulling straight from his crouch over the desk, the man looked down at himself, and then, smirking, sought to meet Kiba's eyes for a second time. "You're asking if I'm the head of dick?"

Kiba blinked as it took him a minute to get the joke. Akamaru skirted in front of him protectively, and before he could decide on a response, the man was laughing at his own humor.

"Heh. Dick. Makes you wonder who named this department."

Kiba glanced to Akamaru, and the cybark met his expression with matching curiosity. When he looked back up, the man had stepped out from behind the desk and was approaching Kiba amiably, or amiably enough considering his smile looked absolutely feral.

They shook hands and Kiba couldn't stop his eyes from roving the sight before him, from the knee-high leather boots that swallowed muscular calves and erupted with taught thighs suctioned by skin-tight leather, to the orange mesh shirt that revealed an expanse of foothilled abs and bronzed pectorals. A simple movement caused the man's heavy leather jacket to cover the fleshy scenery, and Kiba started at the abruptness of the motion.

Warily, Kiba narrowed his eyes. "Well, are you? Because if you're not, you're wasting my time."

The brain behind those blue eyes was thinking, and Kiba groaned. "Whatever. And just so you know, _this_—" he motioned towards the stranger's ensemble, "—is not following article twelve-dash-two of dress code policy."

Akamaru had already started to leave when the man burst out with another surge of irrepressible laughter. He slapped his thigh and Kiba winced.

"Of course I'm the head of the Department of…the Department. Didn't you hear? Today's _Theme Day._ And the theme is _dress like a space pirate_!"

Kiba stared at the other man and examined his ensemble once more. Then he frowned. "Okay. I honestly don't even want to know." And he didn't, considering this was proof that the Cofederation government was clearly loosing their minds. "I just came to report for my assignment."

Akamaru rubbed against his leg warningly and Kiba sighed. "I know, I know. Why do we always get the weird ones?"

Akamaru continued to nudge against him, but Kiba resolved to ignore it in favor of getting his assignment and escaping the government building. The stranger was gazing between the two of them somewhat knowingly, and tugged some dried jerky from his leather jacket to feed to Akamaru.

"He's a cybark, right?" the man asked, and Kiba nodded. Akamaru accepted the treaty after a few sniffs and a growl in his belly, and stopped trying to get Kiba's attention.

"And he can find anyone or anything he's given a scent for, right?"

"Among other things…"

The stranger clapped his hands together and Kiba took a step backwards, away from the enthusiasm. "Great! I think I know your assignment." The commander stepped back a couple of paces and held up a finger. "We are looking for a man—"

"You _think_ you know my assignment? And who is 'we'?" Kiba ran a hand through his hair, drawing it away from his face once again.

"You and me. I'm Naruto. Who the hell are you again? Did you already tell me?"

Kiba stared. The ways of formal introduction had surely slipped since he had last been to this Department. He had only been on this particular colony for a few days in order to turn in a ruthless criminal who had been hiding out in the area.

"You summoned me here for an assignment and you don't even know my name?" Kiba asked skeptically.

Naruto scoffed. "Obviously not if it's Theme Day and I'm a space pirate."

Akamaru whined and Kiba licked his lips before giving up on logic. "Right. My name is Kiba Inuzuka. Who's the warrant out for?" He withdrew his cyber pad in preparation for uploadable data, but Naruto shook his head.

"No, no. No arresting. We're looking for someone who has _already_ been arrested. A certain Rock Lee. Ring any bells?" Naruto looked hopeful, and Kiba thought it was beyond odd that they were working off a name and not a prisoner number.

Shaking his head, Kiba said just that. Naruto rolled his eyes. "We don't have a prisoner number. Come on, you'd know him if you saw him…skinny kid, green tightsuit, huge eyes, huge-_er_ eyebrows, worst haircut known to mankind…"

The description meant nothing until Kiba remembered when he had dropped off his own prey a few days previous. He had overheard some talk about a completely eccentric prisoner that was going to be tried for piracy, and some jokes about where you could even buy spandex these days. Pacing towards the commander's desk, Kiba yanked out a massive tablet from the bottom of the pile and skimmed the holding cell listings.

"He's in C, and if he looks like what you said, I'm going to assume that they put him in solitary. Why do we need to know this?"

Naruto grinned like a Cheshire cat at the deduction, all before a completely predatory gleam soaked up his radiance. "Do you always question your commanders this much?"

Suddenly feeling very self conscious, Kiba straightened. "No..sir."

"Good. Because one might think you were participating in Theme Day too, with that attitude of yours," Naruto replied with an enticingly forbidden air to his tone.

With a precarious glare, Kiba proved that he had never been one for authority. "You can't be a space pirate if you hunt them for a living," he snapped curtly. "We should get going. I have things I'd rather be doing, if you don't mind."

Before waiting to gage the reaction on his superior's face, Kiba spun on his heels and disappeared from the room, Akamaru waiting briefly for Naruto to take the initiative and follow.

Soon, all three were venturing the pristine hallways of Confederation Central, making their way to the keeping areas. There were few people stalking around, and the ones that took the time to notice Kiba cast even longer gazes at Naruto who was trailing quite languidly. His hands were pulled up behind his head and simply stared straight ahead, his lips pulled up in amusement.

"I hate these fucking things," Kiba barked, placing his palm against another reader. The laser hummed against him, and he shook his hand free as soon as the reading was through. He hated the tickling sensation of laser heat against his skin.

As the door slid open, Naruto was chuckling. "Sensitive skin?"

Kiba waved a hand at an internal guard that looked incredulous about Kiba and Naruto's arrival and spoke as he continued forward. "When you travel in muggy cargo holds enough, heat just loses its appeal. This is it. C is just around the corner."

This seemed to stir something within Naruto, but before he could say what was on his mind, a loud voice snarled, "Oi, come by for another round?"

The voice caused Kiba to pause and he tossed a disinterested glance towards the cell beside him. It was the criminal he had hand delivered, still looking as unkempt and venomous as ever. Kiba could make out his expression despite the pleasant buzz of an emerald-hued electro-shielded doorway, and without much thought, he smirked headily.

"What, so I could tear your ass apart again?" Kiba's expression soured. "No point, seeing as to how you're already where I want you." His hand movement implied that being behind bars was where the man belonged.

"W-why you—!" The man leapt up, but Kiba was already walking away.

Naruto came close enough to Kiba to peer over his shoulder, a sly grin cascading the width of his lips. "Now, when you say you 'tore his ass apart'…"

Kiba's nose scrunched and he turned to cast one of his most wicked glares at Naruto, but their sudden close proximity caught him off guard. They both stopped walking and he merely met Naruto's gaze, wondering what type of commander would be so crude.

"Is the constant sex joke thing related to Theme Day or is this something I should get used to anytime I'm summoned for an assignment?" Kiba was beginning to feel a tickle of suspicion in the back of his gut, but it was focused on something he couldn't name.

Unexpectedly, Naruto came forward, cradling his head in the dip of Kiba's shoulder as his lips rose to meet the brunet's earlobe. "It's probably something you should get used to…"

Warm breath against cool skin made Kiba's blood run cold as his senses determined something wasn't right. Firm fingers found his waist and before he found the momentum to push Naruto away, his own phaser was digging into the soft space between the V of his ribs.

Feeling utterly ridiculous, Kiba sighed and raised his arms. "You're not my commander, are you?"

Naruto returned the comment with a tilt of his head and an unmistakably powerful look. "Sorry. Space pirate," he filled in. "And don't worry. Fido will be fine in a few hours."

Kiba snapped his attention to the side, having not noticed Akamaru's lack of aggression towards the man jamming a shooter into his stomach. His hound was struggling to stand, and finally collapsed onto the tiles.

"What did you do?" Kiba tried to keep his voice level. His eyes were narrowed and he was livid.

Naruto pushed the phaser further into Kiba's abdomen, causing him to take a step backwards. "You run into a lot of cyborgs in space; gotta know how to disable their metals."

Kiba watched as Naruto tapped his jacket pocket with his free hand, the pouch where he kept the jerky he had given to Akamaru. Kiba had heard rumors of pirates lacing food with poisons, but never metal retardants.

They continued down the hall for a while, Kiba walking backwards, hands held up and his eyes narrowed with a blazing anger while Naruto drew circles on his belly with the heated tip of the ray gun. Kiba's skin crawled at the sensation, but he only jumped when Naruto led the tip to the waistband of his pants, half threatening to continue southward before the hunger in his eyes was relieved due to something behind Kiba that he couldn't see.

"Lee!"

There was a split second where all of Naruto's attention seemed drawn away, and Kiba stole it. He stepped backwards and slammed Naruto's wrist to the side, leading he gun away from his belly. A beam shot out in result of Naruto being taken by surprise, and hit a plexi-control screen, sending the room into absolute chaos.

The overhead fire-service sprinklers spurted to life and the high-pitched sirens wailed. The sensory doorways deactivated and thieves and murderers from all around the galaxy scrambled out, most of which bumbled around in search of an exit.

"Good job," Naruto snickered as the pirate he had been searching for bounded out towards him. He looked just as Naruto had described only now, in their current conditions, he was sopping wet.

Rock Lee's unbelievably thick eyebrows raised in surprise. "I see you pulled all the stops to rescue me from a certain death," he commented, looking pleased. Naruto grinned. "Well, Sasuke said that we had—what the fuck?"

Kiba followed Naruto's line of sight and nearly slipped as he rushed forward, watching worriedly as his former captive lurked near enough to Akamaru to cause some decent damage—if he knew how. He apparently did, be cause he was working hard on trying to find a way to short circuit the cybernetic dog, using nothing but his brute strength to find a seam of skin easy enough to tear open.

"The _fuck_ you're gonna do _anything_ to him!" Kiba pulled out the only weapon he had left on him—a stunner—and didn't think twice before slamming it against the man's neck and activating it. The man shook for a minute before coughing blood, and then got to his feet, his attitude completely feral.

After cackling and spitting saliva onto the floor, he turned to face Kiba, who was now standing protectively in front of his pup, without a weapon. "I'm gonna kill you."

The massive man raised a fist and Kiba was caught in the moment, stuck as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. He could feel beads of water making trails down his cheeks, getting caught in the sections of his hair that were plastered to his skin. He tasted the droplets on his lips and could hear his own heart beating with every breath he took.

There was no way in hell that man was getting past him.

A bright stroke of light made Kiba blink, and a second later, he felt something thick splatter onto him. When he looked down, he realized it was blood. In the distance, Naruto stood, laser gun pointed directly to the place where the man's fist should have been.

The criminal howled and doubled over, and the security systems went to a higher alert. Kiba had learned about the upper alerts when he had first become registered, and for a second, his breath was stolen from him.

When the security systems calculated a potential mass break-out, they went into override, activating the holding cell's preventative phasers to shoot for ten seconds at everything above a foot and a half on the ground. Glancing to Akamaru, Kiba knew he'd be fine.

Naruto, however…

The security stated five seconds were left, and Kiba could barely hear it over the commotion of all the prisoners attempting to break their way out. He rushed towards Naruto and Rock Lee and motioned for them to get down, and sadly, Lee was the only one who understood. He dropped to the ground like a spandex mat, while Naruto stared at him defensively.

"Get on the ground, you fucking moron!" Kiba hollered, and he slammed into Naruto, sending them both to the floor as the lasers exploded in fireworks throughout the room. He buried his head in Naruto's chest, trying to keep himself as low as possible, but pain burst from his side as he was clipped. He choked in a sobbing breath and Naruto moved beneath him so that they were both low enough to avoid any more shots.

As soon as it had started, the firing frenzy ended.

"That was…" Rock Lee pushed himself up to his knees, and Naruto finished his sentence. "Really stupid. That's the Fed's idea of a cleanup if there's a fucking break?"

However stupid it was, the room was deathly quiet. Except for Kiba who clutched his side and moaned, trying to pretend like he didn't feel blood fighting to escape against his fingers.

"Ugh," he glared at Naruto, who was sitting up next to him. "I hate you."

Blue eyes looked minutely irritated. "That's not a nice thing to say to the person who gets to decide if you live or die."

"They're gonna send security in," Kiba said between pants. "So—"

Naruto wrapped his arm around Kiba and yanked him up. "Stop saving my ass," he growled. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but it's making it increasingly difficult to decide what to do with you."

Kiba's lips clamped closed.

"The doors are open now," Lee pointed, and he then gave Naruto a wry glance before eyeing Kiba. "What are my orders?"

Kiba's eyes widened at the thought that Naruto had any sort of authority. With his unruly blond hair and sinister expression, Kiba could see it now moreso than before.

"Grab his dog and let's get out of here."

Lee didn't need to be told twice. And what was more, he could _lift_ Akamaru. Over his shoulders. Kiba wondered if he had ever heard of this crew before, because they were certainly more than what met the eye.

"I'm not going with you," Kiba growled, though the fact he needed Naruto's help to stay standing was enough to earn him a heated look.

Smirking, Naruto chuckled. "So what? They're gonna know you got me down here and helped with his escape," Naruto nudged towards Lee. "You think they're really gonna let you go based on your word that you thought _I_ was your dickhead?"

Kiba grimaced. "Head of D.I.C."

"Like I said. Can you walk at all?"

Kiba _could_, but not without spilling his blood everywhere. Naruto rolled his eyes and leaned down, looping one of his arms behind Kiba's knees before Kiba backed up a bit.

"Fuck no! You're not carrying me around like that—" he nearly doubled over as pain wretched through his gut. There were voices beyond the entryway doors and Naruto lost his patience.

"No time for pride," he dictated, and struggled to scoop Kiba up so they could move out. "Now where do we go?"

"Depends on where you want to go," Kiba flinched as he took a deep breath, in too much pain to fight.

Naruto thought hard for a second, obviously debating towards returning to his ship or seeking to amend other things beforehand. He growled as he came to a decision. "Empty room where we can hide."

Kiba motioned with his head towards the rear of the cell block and Lee took off first, Akamaru clutched like a two hundred pound furry scarf around his shoulders. When they were back up to the main hallways, Naruto gave Kiba an inquisitive look.

"Where now?"

Kiba shrugged. "This is my first time here, too."

"Way to be helpful," Naruto snapped, but there wasn't much venom behind it. Strangely, he seemed concerned. "Lee, try that one."

Motioning towards a door on the right, Naruto moved to try one on their left. Before he had his finger to its coded handle, Lee hissed from across the hallway, "They're password protected!"

Kiba sighed. "All confederation passwords are the same. Agh, put me down," he scrambled a bit and Naruto reluctantly let him on his feet. "Not that I intend on telling you any more than that."

He glanced down the hallways he knew led to the front entrance, and counted the number of doors before the one they stood in front of. It was a basic system, really. They were on colony three, floor one, and at door 12. Thus the code was 3112. He entered it and the security system beeped in approval, and within seconds, they were all safely tucked inside a pitch black conference room.

"It's so dark," Lee's voice sounded, and Kiba heard the sound of Akamaru being settled onto the floor.

"Don't turn on the lights," Kiba coughed. "They monitor energy output."

Within moments Naruto was against him, and was forcing him back against a wall. Before a wall met with his back, a table met Kiba's thighs, and he cursed as he was jolted into a sitting position.

"Lee, go and get Sasuke. Tell him I'm cashing in that favor, and I'll be doing it from the courtyard."

Kiba didn't think it was possible for Naruto to sound so serious.

"Right," Rock Lee acknowledged. There was rustling as he made his way to the door, and then a spill of light revealed Lee's grinning face. "Don't be late."

And then it was just Kiba and Naruto, alone in blackness.

"You got hit in a bad spot, Inuzuka," Naruto worked to peel Kiba's fingers away from the tear in his side, and the bounty hunter yowled as the numbed ache rebirthed in the form of needlepoint stings. "And you've lost a lot of blood."

"Tell me something I don't know," Kiba cringed. Naruto pushed Kiba's knees apart and came to stand between them in order to get a better angle to work with his injury. After a few minutes of fumbling with Kiba's outerwear, Naruto finally started to tug it off.

"I can't do anything with all this shit you've got on," he grunted, and Kiba maneuvered as much as he could to help in the process of removing his leather jacket and tattered underarmor.

Kiba heard the fabric it the ground, and felt Naruto's hands on his chest, deftly scoping his skin as a blind man would, in order to find the wound again. Kiba felt his skin fever beneath the movements, as if trying to predict where those fingers would go on their own, and willing them to go places that they didn't.

"You're hot," Naruto mumbled, and Kiba was caught off guard. With his shirt and jacket gone, he could feel rivulets of water making trails down his chest as his damp hair struggled to dry, and he could feel Naruto's fingers working against the wetness, sliding with practiced ease across his flesh.

Kiba lowered his head and frowned. "Um…thank you?"

There was a moment before Naruto laughed, and suddenly the blond pressed his forehead against Kiba's, a motion only recognizable because their noses brushed. Kiba suddenly understood, but Naruto spoke to clarify anyway. "You have a fever. But so as not to damage your hard-earned pirate hunter ego, you're pretty fucking hot, too."

Kiba smiled despite himself. "Bounty hunter," he corrected.

"Ex-bounty hunter," Naruto stated, the tone of his voice a bit fevered itself. "…if I have any say in the matter."

Leaning forward, Naruto slid his hand to the base of Kiba's ass, pulling them in so that Kiba's thighs were taut against Naruto's, and so that their chests rubbed together with a blistering friction.

"Bite the collar of my coat," Naruto instructed, and Kiba felt the leather material slide against his cheek as Naruto's head rose to perch on top of his own.

The demand was strange and Kiba frowned. "Why?"

"Because stopping the blood is gonna hurt like a bitch," Naruto was saying, and Kiba didn't doubt his sincerity. "Now bite it."

Kiba did as he was told, and he breathed a few nervous breaths through his nose. From the corner of his eye he saw Naruto retrieve something from his pocket, but only because it glowed a vibrant blue. Before he could question what it was, an excruciating pain made him cry out and gnaw Naruto's collar for all it was worth.

The skin around his laceration was burning. Naruto was cauterizing it. Their bodies melded together and Kiba squirmed against Naruto, the feeling of the pirate's cold leather jacket against his blazing skin feeling like a certain paradise amidst the pain.

Kiba's skin was crawling as he felt his flesh sear itself solid, and his fever became abhorrently apparent. He whined through his teeth and wrapped his legs around Naruto's thighs, pulling their hips together in a pleasant friction that was a welcomed distraction from the method of curing. Lips that could have only been Naruto's sucked at his ear as Naruto's free hand tugged Kiba's head back by his hair, mixing the pain with a small dose of pleasure.

When his flesh had charred over, Kiba felt Naruto withdraw whatever device he had used, and slowly, his teeth released the jacket.

"Holy fuck," Kiba felt sick as he smelled the aftermath of his burning, and he coughed. "What the fuck was that?"

Naruto chortled. "A brander. Comes in handy when you're stealing merchandise and need to re-route shipping labels. Also when you get fucked up by phasers, apparently."

"You used a _branding _iron on me?"

Those fingers found Kiba's chest again, and this time, roamed for more self serving reasons. "I saved your life, didn't I?"

Kiba didn't know that for a fact, but he assumed it was true. He loosened the grip his thighs had around Naruto's waist as he came back down to earth, the realm of overbearing pain and undeniable pleasure fading to nothing. Kiba frowned and his eyes dimmed. "I'm not a pirate."

There was a moment that passed before Naruto's fingers paused. "Yeah. You should be though."

A pregnant silence stretched between them until Naruto sighed. "Our time's up."

Naruto moved towards the door, and snagged Kiba's wrist along the way. The brunet tried to fight against it, but Naruto seemed one hundred times stronger after everything Kiba's body had suffered through.

"Let go of me!" Kiba felt as though every movement made the skin on his stomach feel like butter spread too thin.

Leading him out into the main hallway, Naruto yanked him forward and tugged Kiba back against him, so that Kiba's back was tight against Naruto's chest. Naruto held him there, like a prisoner of war, his free hand jamming a phaser against Kiba's throat.

"Naruto, let _go_ of me!"

"Let a pretty little thing like you go?" Naruto rubbed the gun lovingly against Kiba's cheek, and Kiba realized that the halls weren't as empty as they had been before. There were guards scattered everywhere, most likely due to the break out, and at the moment, all of their attention was drawn towards Naruto and Kiba, and the scene Naruto was creating.

Making his way towards the front of the building in order to exit, Naruto was suddenly full of an equal amount of threat and humor. "Don't doubt that I'll kill him," he said, eyeing the guards as he slipped outside. They looked at a loss as for what to do, seeing as how hostage situations were incredibly rare.

Naruto dragged Kiba outside, towards a grassy knoll area, keeping his attention focused on the guards. They were beacons of white, waiting for the right moment to release fire and take Naruto down, even if most of them had no idea who Kiba was. It was a good thing that protecting civilians was high on security's list.

"Let me the _fuck_ go," Kiba snarled, tugging against Naruto's arm and squirming in his hold. If he hadn't felt like a rag doll, he would have tackled Naruto to the ground and punched the living daylight out of him. "I'm not going on your fucking ship. I can't. _Akamaru_ is here, and you're a fucking _pirate_, and—"

"If I had a dollar for how many times I ask myself _why_ you're my second-in-command, I wouldn't need to resort to fucking piracy for money," a voice emerged from the shadows of a fairly large spruce tree that hid them from the main building. The person it belonged to revealed himself immediately after, and Kiba nearly growled.

The person was a pirate perfected, with cream-colored skin, inky black hair spiked in all of he right places, piercings lining his left ear, and eyes that gleamed like their own solar systems below heavily lashed eyes. His demeanor spelled captain, loud and clear.

Naruto grinned. "Sasuke, it's great to see you too. Oh gee, and it feels amazing to know that you care I'm still alive."

"Shut it," the man named Sasuke said, and he moved to stare at Kiba. "What the hell is _this_?"

Kiba spat at him, and Sasuke took a step to the side, missing the flying missile of spittle. His eyes narrowed and he snorted. "Charming."

Naruto laughed and let Kiba go. Kiba jogged forward and whipped around, prepared to fight, even if his body felt the need to collapse and sleep for days. Naruto merely smirked at him though, and Sasuke looked vaguely confused.

"Ciao, Inuzuka," Naruto said, and turned to walk away, Sasuke following idly beside him, hands tucked into his pockets.

Kiba fell to his knees and panted. "Wait, what?"

Naruto turned his head. "Rule of Piracy, section one, part four. Always repay favors."

Kiba raised an eyebrow as Sasuke started into a jog. He could hear the guards approaching, and so their escape was eminent.

Kiba gaped, and then let a slow smile come to his lips. Naruto had made him look like a hostage, in the end, so he wouldn't have to face the consequences of his peers thinking he was an accessory.

Naruto turned around one last time and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"And Rule of Bounty Hunters. Never stop 'til you find the one you're charged with!"

With that, Naruto spun on is heels and took off after Sasuke, and Kiba let the dizziness overtake him as he passed out.

* * *

"So, Kiba Inuzuka. It's been five weeks since the incident and everyone is quite satisfied with your recovery." The Head of the Department of Interstellar Conduct nodded contentedly. "And I should also add that almost everyone thinks you are completely capable, considering you managed to cauterize your own wound, though there has been a little discussion as to what it is you used, seeing that the resulting mark is very…swirly…" the commander's voice faded to a mumble.

From beside Kiba, Akamaru whimpered, and the bounty hunter scratched a tuft of fur on his head.

"In conclusion, we have reviewed your request and you have been approved. Good job, son. Your family will be very honored, and we wish you the best in this new assignment."

Kiba saluted briefly before turning to leave, his hound close beside him. As soon as they were outside of the main building, he tugged his leather jacket tight around his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair, loosening some kinks.

"Thank you, Captain Dick," he muttered before looking down to eye Akamaru.

"Don't tell me you're upset. I thought you'd be excited."

The cybark whimpered again and Kiba rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you. You didn't miss _anything_ last time. Well, almost anything." The last part made the hope in Akamaru's good eye fade to disappointment.

"Oi," Kiba said, and he crouched down. Akamaru paced over to him and sat on his hind legs, and they looked each other in the eye. "This is important to me."

The mutt sighed, and Kiba revealed his palm-pad. "You remember his scent, right?" The picture on his digital display revealed a familiar face. The caption beneath it was his orders.

_Kiba Inuzuka to pursue pirate E119, known as 'Naruto' and collect data from ship and crew. Arrest Rock Lee on sight. Failure to comply is not an option. Statute ten-dash-nine states that it is a Bounty Hunter's sworn duty to the Confederation to—_

"—never stop until you find the person you are assigned to." Kiba concluded, and he rubbed Akamaru's nose before standing. After putting his palm-pad back into his pocket, he started forward, and after a booming _woof_, Akamaru was right behind.


	2. May Day

**May Day**

* * *

**Author:** Ladelle

**Comment:** Second installment of space pirate awesomeness. Thank you Reyn, for your dialogue help!

**Warnings:** Violence and language.

* * *

The streets of the Orion Colony were anything but quiet as Kiba sprinted between housings, whistling so as to give away his location. It was pitch black and he doubted that his partner needed the audible cue, seeing as to how Akamaru had an implanted eye movement with twin-K lasers imbedded, and a nose that could pick up a scent miles off.

The sharp sound was worth the effort, though, as it kept his target aware that he was being pursued. Even if Kiba's prey happened to be a cyborg, and rule four-dash-twenty of the Interstellar Pursuit Manual stated that no human should go up against one on their own.

"Unlucky for you, I know how to deactivate your sorry ass," Kiba grunted as he made a quick right and stumbled into a wall, breathless. Huffing, he listened for the booming footsteps of his prey, and darted forward once he heard them not twenty feet ahead. He whistled again once he changed direction and drove the pitch up, commanding Akamaru to follow from the shadows.

Emerging into the warehouse district, Kiba cringed when he heard a pulsating buzz surround him. The florescent lights began to slowly flicker to life, and Kiba cursed. The city was waking up.

"I don't have time for this, Killerbee!" Kiba groaned loud enough for the cyborg to hear. He snatched his phaser from a leather band strapped to his thigh and aimed high before firing, his weapon expelling a pinprick of light that faded about forty feet upwards.

"Not much of a range," Kiba growled, and eyed the weapon with disdain as he continued running. Confederation approved weapons were the worst.

With the sunless sunrise of the city impending, Kiba made a choice. Coming to a backbreaking halt, he gripped his phaser in both hands and fired, hoping his aim wouldn't be too far off considering his limited visibility.

The sound of sizzling metal told him that his shot had stayed true.

"Damn man, I should sue—I don't even know you!" Killerbee whined from the distance and Kiba grinned, realizing the purpose of his action had been met. His opponent was no longer running.

Kiba coughed as he struggled to catch his breath. For a human, he had done pretty damn well keeping up with the metal-infused man in front of him. Unfortunately, it was going to take more than endurance to take the eight foot tall hunk of assorted metals back to Hell's Half Prison, where all the bad little half this-and-that's ended up.

"You—" Kiba peeked up, one eye closed as salted sweat dribbled down from his forehead. "You're under arrest. Under the Jurisdiction of the—"

"Boom-boom-boom," Killerbee interrupted, striking a pose that exposed a gigantic boom-box fused bicep. "I ain't got no room—"

"Okay, I _really_ want to know why I always get assignments like this," Kiba wiped the back of his hand against his brow and stood up straight, trying to motivate himself to go in for the kill. Killerbee wasn't the brightest star in the galaxy. In Kiba's opinion, he was hardly worth both the trouble of arresting and the lofty bounty on his head.

"You really gonna 'rrest me today? Cuz if u do, there'll a mighty big price to pay—"

"Okay, just stop talking," Kiba ran a hand through his tousled hair and rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to play nice. If you come with me quietly, I won't have to resort to drastic measures."

The amusement on Killerbee's face dimmed. The cyborg crouched down, looking like a junk-swollen meteor. His armored centerpiece took on a bright blue hue and his eyes gleamed red. It was looking like they were going to fight, after all.

Kiba rolled his eyes, already ticked off that he needed the commission from this capture to make it to Pirate Colony 666, where information on Naruto was sure to be abundant. Kiba's search had raged on for a whopping seven months, and he was starting to think that the Confederation enjoyed assigning him the most ridiculous criminals; just a month ago he had been tasked with capturing a small fleet of galactic hookah dealers, and before that it had been a man with a cryo-enhanced arm that was known for stealing space scooters.

"Fuck this," Kiba darted forward, feeling his skin begin to ache as the halogen colony lights hit maximum brightness, showering the fiberglass white-walled buildings like a sun lamp did greenery, feeding the mass majority of the colony's inhabitants with energy.

"Fucking cyborg colony, with your fucking solar-powered cyborgs," Kiba cursed.

He spun to the side as Killerbee rose to land a perfect metal-molded fist to his face, narrowly avoiding the attack. Kiba whipped around to face his prey's back as the cyborg stumbled forward, and smirked when he saw what he was looking for. Two panels on the base of Killerbee's neck, soaking up the scorching fake sunlight of the Orion Colony.

"Gotcha," Kiba crouched down low, his pants drawing tight against his skin and his leather jacket nearly roasting him alive in the heat. He gripped his phaser tight in his right hand, and as soon as Killerbee turned to face him, Kiba was sprinting forward.

The cyborg hummed loudly as he stomped ahead to meet the attack, what little human skin he had left bronzed and glistening with perspiration. "You choosin' the wrong road, don't you know, 'cause I'm the one with the code—"

"I don't know—" Kiba ducked and rolled between the cyborg's split legs and pushed himself up, slamming the endpoint of his phaser against the leftmost panel on Killerbee's shoulder, "—what the _hell_ you're talking about, so save it for someone who gives a damn about your sorry ass riddles!"

Kiba huffed while Killerbee stood frozen in place. The droid gulped audibly, and Kiba let out a deep breath—and was met with a sudden flash of light and a surge of pain to his wrist as his phaser was shot from his hand. He spun his head to follow the fading stream of the culprit beam, and narrowed his eyes at the figure that had taken the shot. He was distracted when Killerbee realized that without a weapon, Kiba was no longer a threat.

"Free, free, 'tis the way to be!" Killerbee hollered and his torso did a one-eighty turn, his gigantic arms curled in an attempt to knock Kiba to the ground. Gifted with good reflexes, Kiba stumbled backwards and out of the way before returning his attention to the stranger that had interjected.

"Un-fucking-believable," Kiba dragged a hand through his sweat soaked hair and eyed the newcomer, finding irony in the fact he recognized the bastard pirate.

Scowling, the familiar man had a phaser in each of his hands, both aimed directly at Kiba. Obsidian eyes were narrowed with both intrigue and threat, and an array of gold earrings clung to his left ear. He was lithe for a space pirate, and his attire was high-end. With glossy leggings that swallowed his muscle and a burgundy tunic that revealed a wide expanse of thick underarmor coating his chest, it was apparent that his crew wasn't struggling financially.

"You won't be collecting any bounties today," the pirate said crisply, misinterpreting Kiba's expression of interest.

Kiba sighed bitterly. It figured that Naruto's captain didn't recognize him.

"Your name's…Sasuke or something, right?" Kiba asked after some thought, and didn't give the captain time to answer. "I'm not after you, so stay out of this."

Sasuke didn't correct him, but his expression grew livid. "Bee's wanted by the Brethren. A Confederate dog will have to get through me in order to capture him."

It was obvious that Sasuke wasn't used to anyone challenging him, at least not seriously. With the way his eyes scanned Kiba's appearance, it was easy to picture Sasuke thinking up thousands of avenues to stopping Kiba's life short. He had the eyes of someone who had killed before, and had no qualms about killing again. And again…and again.

Kiba frowned, not entirely willing to put his health on the line for the rapping monstrosity known as Killerbee. He extended his hand towards Sasuke and cupped it.

"One hundred and eighty seven pieces," he stated.

The pirate raised an eyebrow.

"That's what his bounty's worth," Kiba explained, although now, with Sasuke in front of him, he wondered if he needed the money to find Naruto after all. "You give me the money, and I don't care what happens to him."

Sasuke's charcoal eyes showed amusement. "You've got two phasers pointed at your forehead, and you're demanding money?"

Kiba snorted. He didn't like this Sasuke guy. Too much high-and-mighty and not enough practicality. Deciding that his pride was worth risking his health, Kiba slowly grinned.

"Don't misunderstand. I'd hate for you to think you have the advantage." Kiba pulled back his hand, brought his fingers to his lips, and dispelled a shrieking whistle. Sasuke glanced up cautiously, but didn't have the time to school his surprised expression when a three-hundred pound cybark took flight off a nearby rooftop and landed, with a ground-shaking force, next to Kiba's side. "Because unfortunately for you, captain, I have a better one."

Saliva trickled from Akamaru's mouth as he growled at Sasuke, and Kiba was content with the reservation he saw in the other man's features. For a moment, he thought that Sasuke had finally recognized him. Unfortunately, the pirate's expressions were ever changing, and at the moment, Sasuke seemed preoccupied with something behind Kiba.

Ears catching the thumping of footsteps, Kiba shifted on his feet, wondering who could have joined them, yet was unwilling to take his sights off Sasuke. His first thought was that Confederation Security had shown up, but when he didn't hear any sort of formal introduction, he realized it was someone else entirely.

When Sasuke's eyes returned to Kiba's, they looked irritated.

"You're an idiot," the captain stated, and Kiba risked letting his guard down by glancing over his shoulder.

They had company.

"Pirate war," Killerbee squeaked, and from the corner of Kiba's eye, he saw the cyborg retreat into a brightly lit alleyway behind Sasuke. It was apparent that Naruto's captain would keep Kiba from pursuing him, and the thought alone was aggravating.

"Damnit." Kiba howled, and twisted on his feet to take in the crowd that had formed behind him. A group of men—obviously space pirates—stood, ready to kill. Their leader, a gangly thing with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail, smirked wickedly.

"What's this? Your crew's takin' on pets, Uchiha?" his cobalt eyes glanced back and forth between Kiba and Akamaru and he cackled widly.

Sasuke wasn't amused. "Hardly."

"In any case," the stranger interjected, not at all interested in the scene he had intruded upon, "I'll be taking that cyborg that just took off. No hard feelings."

"Tch," Sasuke frowned. Kiba watched as he directed the phasers in his hands towards the lanky pirate, seeming less than affected by the threat.

Kiba groaned, realizing he had become involved in some sort of turf war that meant nothing to him. He just wanted money so that he could get to 666. Frowning, he stomped over to his phaser, snatched it up off the ground, and glared at the blond pirate and his cronies. "Mind telling me just who the fuck you are?"

The man snorted and his crowd chuckled. "They call me…Deidara."

Kiba rolled his eyes, too used to certain pirates thinking they were the shit when their name had never even grazed a wanted file. "They'll be calling you dead by the time I'm done with you." Completely aggravated, he stalked over to Sasuke, muttering under his breath. Akamaru yipped and followed along behind.

Kiba's approaching Sasuke was unexpected, and earned him a cautious glare.

"You owe me a hundred and eighty seven pieces," Kiba snorted, and he stood side by side with Sasuke as they both faced the crew opposite them. "Or some information on someone. But fight first," Kiba's eyes narrowed at Deidara and his crew. "Negotiate later."

Sasuke shifted on his feet. "I don't take orders, I give them," he hissed in response.

Before Kiba could declare that he took orders from no one himself, Deidara's crew was firing.

Sasuke grunted noncommittally and returned the blasts with his won shooters, and Kiba was in awe when the ponytailed pirate dodged forward, narrowly avoiding the shots. Holding both of his palms out to face Sasuke and Kiba, the filibuster grinned. Kiba's eyes widened when the skin of the man's palms peeled back, revealing the barrel tip of a laser guns; it wasn't long before they were firing, and Kiba growled as he raced sideways to avoid the shots.

Akamaru curled in front of him protectively and barked. It was a loud and booming sound, and Kiba realized that he and Sasuke had both run in separate directions. Akamaru woofed again.

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba snapped, and he clambered onto Akamaru's back, deciding that Sasuke could take care of himself. "Let's get this over with."

Flattening himself as much as he could against the bristling fur of Akamaru's hide, Kiba clung as his hound took off. Wind whipped at his face as the dog sped forward, weaving in between laser shots like a needle through fabric. Kiba twisted slightly, pulling his gun up to take aim. Akamaru yipped and the cyber pirate's face came into view, his finger tightened on the trigger.

A flash of light bled from the phaser and the pirate howled as the blast met with his shoulder. Blue liquid burst forth from the gash, and Kiba knew there would be no future for the phaser-fused arm now hanging by a hinge from Deidara's bicep.

"You fucker," Deidara dropped to his knees, fury bringing tears to his eyes. His face was red as he suffered through the lingering pains, and Kiba ushered Akamaru back to where Sasuke was standing. Naruto's captain snorted.

"Not bad."

Sliding off Akamaru's back, Kiba lifted the phaser to face the crew scattered around them and huffed. "I'm really not in the mood for this today," he stated. Sasuke didn't seem to be either. He didn't look exhausted, even though he'd been doing more physical work than Kiba. Strangely enough, he looked intent. And that expression was eerie.

Several of Deidara's crewmembers exchanged cautious glances, and the fact that their captain was a bloodied heap on the cement didn't do anything to strengthen their conviction to fight. When Deidara started to rise, pushing himself up off the payment like his injury meant nothing, Kiba had to give him credit.

Losing artificial appendages was worse than losing an original.

"I won't be taken down by you," Deidara spat blood in Kiba's general direction.

Kiba frowned. "No, you'll get taken down by losing too much fluid. Stop being a dumbass and go see a doctor."

It wasn't mercy, it was impatience.

The enemy captain's cobalt eyes narrowed and in the distance, the whir of Confederation sirens stirred the air. Deidara's eyes relaxed, but didn't lose their intensity as he motioned for a couple of his crew members to help him walk.

"Hey," Kiba watched as the pony-tailed man hobbled off, not wanting to get arrested. "Yeah, you walk away." He rolled his eyes and turned to look behind him, where Sasuke was pocketing his phasers and preparing to escape himself.

"Wait a minute," Kiba declared, livid. He had already lost Bee, and he wasn't willing to leave completely empty handed. When Sasuke's eyes met his, they looked they could care less what had Kiba riled up.

"Tell me where Naruto is," Kiba demanded. This earned him a look he should have been expecting; one filled with menace. Kiba heard the sirens becoming louder and knew their time was limited. "Not for the Confederation, for—"

Sasuke was already walking away, but tossed a rogue look of disgust over his shoulder. "Figure it out yourself, since _your_ Confederation took off with him last week."

Kiba couldn't keep the bewildered expression from crossing his features, and felt his insides boil. Someone else had taken his bounty?

"Who? Which station?" Kiba asked, but Sasuke disappeared into the shadows, leaving Kiba alone to deal with Orion's Confederation Security when they finally arrived.

* * *

"Well, isn't this a surprise," Neji Hyuuga wore very wide glasses, tinted to hide the unnatural color of his implanted eyes. The lenses dipped as finely shaped eyebrows lifted, the First Lieutenant of Hell's Half Prison taking in Kiba with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. "I have to admit, I never thought I'd see _you_ again."

The comment was clearly an insult to Kiba's skills and so he shrugged it off, and turned the tables. "Yeah. I was pretty sure you'd be dead by now, too."

Neji's face flattened in distaste and the motion sent his glasses creeping down the bridge of his nose. He was clearly unamused, and thus decided to change the subject.

"And what brings you here today? Are you here for business? Pleasure? Or maybe you've decided to turn yourself in after discovering your affinity for backstabbing the Confederacy?" Neji's tone was all insinuation as he lifted a tablet from the table and pretended like something on the screen had caught his interest.

"You have something that's mine," Kiba plucked the tablet from Neji's grip and tossed it onto the table, not blinking an eye as it skittered across the surface, disturbing a few other pads in the process. "And I want it back."

At this, Neji cocked his head to the side. A digital clock blinked to prove a minute had passed, and suddenly, Neji shifted. "Interesting."

Kiba dug his hand into his pockets and raised an eyebrow. "What is?"

Neji languidly pulled a stool from beneath the desk and took a seat, looking quite amused.

"What's 'interesting'?" Kiba repeated, more forcefully.

Neji met his gaze and smirked. "That you would think anyone here is yours, and not the Confederacy's."

Rolling his eyes, Kiba shrugged. "I like my bounties."

"You like stirring up trouble," Neji corrected.

Kiba leaned forward in an attempt to peek at the tablets lining Neji's station. "Naruto's his name. He's my responsibility, so tell me where he's kept."

Neji shifted so that his hair fell over the tablet Kiba had been attempting to read and peered up with cynicism. "I heard what happened at the other colony; about his escape."

Kiba groaned. "Yeah, I'm sure you did," he said dully. "Now where's my bounty?"

Neji's face dimmed and he suddenly looked angry that Kiba wasn't playing into his interrogation. He swept a collection of hair behind his ears and snorted. "He can't be released, by order three-dash-ten of the Solar Interrogation Unit."

"So you know who I'm talking about?"

"Of course. The same bastard pirate that broke out the infamous Rock Lee seven months ago. With _your _help." Neji looked completely serious in his accusation.

Kiba rounded the desk and eyed Neji precariously. "Oh? I helped him?"

"Of course," Neji replied with a shrug, and leaned forward. His fingers hooked the base of Kiba's loose-hanging shirt, and he pulled it upward, revealing an expanse of skin, and a very noticeable swirling scar. "He left a pretty mark."

Kiba slapped the Lieutenant's hand away. "You should keep your pretty little head out of my medical records."

"That's hardly fair, considering you've had years to review mine," Neji crooned. "I haven't forgotten the fact that you're the one responsible for getting my eyes gauged out."

Quick to strike back, and not entirely stunned that Neji would bring his eyes up at all, Kiba replied, his voice warning. "Then you should also keep in mind that my family gave you the eyes you have now."

"Tch," Neji responded, his lip curling as he changed the subject. "Naruto has classified information. That overrides your assignment, whether he was your bounty or not. For the time being, he remains here."

"You—" Kiba rounded the table like a storm cloud. "Fine. Then I'm demanding to see him."

The command registered in Kiba's mind a moment after he had shouted it, but he held his ground. He had every right to make sure he wasn't being played by the Confederacy. "Besides, what's so important about him that they've got him kept here?"

Shifting on his feet, Kiba felt his curiosity was revealed behind the question. Hell's Half was for cyborgs, not common space pirates. He had specifically not brought Akamaru for that reason. If things were to go badly, he wanted his partner to be somewhere safe, and in some distant part of his mind, he hoped Akamaru had gone where he'd been told…

Neji was studying Kiba, probably weighing motives and everything else Lieutenants were trained to do. And with the amount of distrust there was between the two of them, Kiba was surprised when Neji was straightforward with his response.

"Central's found a solar compass. There are only two known persons who are said to know the code. I'll give you a hint as to who they are…"

Kiba felt uneasy with the way Neji's frosted eyes lifted to meet his own.

"Disbelievingly enough, they both happen to be on your bounty. And to further help you realize how much I don't trust you, you have been unable to capture either of them for a suspiciously long period of time."

Kiba frowned. His only bounties at the moment were Killerbee and… "So…Naruto knows a solar compass code, and the Confederacy's got its panties in a twist about it? What's the compass lead to? Heaven?" He smirked at his own dry humor. Anyone with his job knew heaven didn't exist.

"That, unfortunately, is information I can't disclose to you." Neji looked content in leaving Kiba hanging with little information.

Kiba released a wry chuckle. "That, or you don't know what it leads to either."

The expression on Neji's face told Kiba he had guessed correctly.

Pushing his arm forward in order to draw the sleeve of his leather jacket back, Kiba eyed a digital wristband that decorated his lower arm. It was breaching late afternoon.

"Neji. Let me see him." He said, his voice controlled.

As he had hoped, Neji wasn't entirely immune to the ruthless charm Kiba seemed to emanate when he was completely serious about something. The lieutenant stood up and didn't look happy when he snatched a collection of white key cards from one of the desk drawers. Before leading Kiba towards the doorways, Neji turned to him and nearly snarled.

"If anything fishy happens, you'll end up my bounty, got it?"

Kiba held up his arms in mock surrender, and smirked. "Whatever you say, Hyuuga."

The journey to the interrogation center was long and boring. Kiba had seen more interesting walls in the shuttle hospitals, which had virtually nothing but paneling. Neji didn't help the atmosphere, either. Even the officers stationed around the internal holdings seemed unable to make eye contact with him.

"Here." Neji stopped, and Kiba, who had been mid-yawn, ran into him from behind. Neji stumbled forward and Kiba leapt back.

"A warning would have been nice," Kiba muttered while running his hands over his jacket to smooth invisible wrinkles.

Neji wasn't amused. He made it a point to dignify Kiba with no response, save handing him a key card to enter the room. Kiba took it wantonly, and with skepticism.

"You're just going to let me go in on my own?"

"Of course not," Neji shook his head. "I'll be right here. Believe me, Kiba. There's only one way out of here. And that's through me. If anything happens—"

"—you'll avenge your pride or whatever. Yeah, yeah," Kiba turned resolutely and slid the key card through a reader. He heard Neji begin to walk a short distance away to inform two nearby officers of the situation. Holding his breath without the intent of doing so, Kiba stepped into the room.

All the air left his lungs in one sharp exhalation as a knee connected with his abdomen. Nearly doubling over from pain and surprise, Kiba's reflexes kicked in. A hand was on is back, ready to slam him into the floor. He twisted and took hold of it, and tried to pull his attacker forward. The action sent them both tumbling to the ground.

Kiba grunted when he realized his assailant was definitely a man. He was too strong and too powerful to be a female, and too lithe to be a cyborg. As they rolled around and struggled to pin each other in a series of grunts and groans, Kiba also realized his attacker was mostly naked, and perspiration glistened on his skin.

A punch caught him in the cheek and his vision flashed white. Kiba tasted blood, and then felt fury. It was ripped from him like it was a last resort, and with a surge of pure willpower he slammed himself forward, his fingers grazing a muscular arm until he had managed to pin the man beneath him.

"There's a reason I'm a bounty hunter," Kiba growled, and he forced his weight down on his assailant, as if to prove a point. Two glittering blue eyes met his in the darkness and Kiba was taken aback. When something hard pressed into his stomach, Kiba realized with a distant humor that, no, Naruto wasn't happy to see him and that the pirate had, just like their first meeting seven months previous, snatched Kiba's phaser and jammed it into his gut.

"We really have to stop meeting this way," Naruto's voice was hoarse, but full of a familiar humor.

Kiba pressed himself lower against Naruto's exposed chest, unable to stop himself. "Then stop getting yourself into situations where I've got to save your ass."

Naruto chuckled, and the sound was breathy. The phaser wasn't quite as tight against Kiba's belly as it had been, and begrudgingly, Kiba hoisted himself. Up. "You're wet," he commented, rubbing the moistness on his hands on his pants.

"Blood," Naruto replied dryly, and moments later, the two guards rushed into the room. They commanded the lights on, which until now, Kiba hadn't realized were off. Strange.

"Inuzuka, are you alright? We heard noises and—" one of the officers eyes drifted to Naruto and immediately his phaser was raised. "Y-you. How did you?"

Kiba glanced around the room, uncertain of what had the officer so astounded. When he saw what was behind them, he was pretty impressed himself. And then he was disgusted.

"Hell's Half interrogates by whipping? That's a little archaic, don't you think?" Cable wires had been strung from the ceiling, and were now completely severed through. Did Naruto have a weapon? Kiba glanced over to him.

Now that Kiba could see Naruto in the light, he could see the fleshy welts on his bronzed skin. There were a lot. His guess was that Naruto hadn't said a word about the code.

Neji sifted in, looking bitterly amused, and provided an answer to Kiba's question. "The action may be archaic. But the pain, no. Pain doesn't age. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that you showed up, Kiba? I'm sure you've been dying to get even, considering you looked like a bit of a fool back then, right?"

The two officers were hauling Naruto back to where the cable wires dangled, and struggling to bind the pirate's wrist's together and tug them above his head. Naruto's back wasn't a pretty sight, but it looked like a few days had passed since anyone had attempted to interrogate him.

"Besides, I'm fairly sure you know how to handle one of these, considering your trade?" Neji pointed towards a branding whip, used for animals exported to colonies.

Kiba frowned. "Funny. I don't remember using one on Akamaru. Or you, for that matter. But hey, you should have just admitted that was your thing, and I would have—"

"Stop beating around the bush," Neji's tone was clipped. "He's been here over a week and we haven't gotten anything out of him. If you aren't dogging the Confederacy, the least you could do is be useful and prove your allegiance."

Kiba wondered if Neji was setting him up against the other officers; if he would seem childish to refuse.

"I don't do shit like this," Kiba growled, but Neji was ten steps ahead of him.

"Are you saying you want him to be reassigned?"

Kiba hesitated. He knew that Neji felt it, and Naruto, too. And then, Naruto's voice filled the void.

"He's too pussy. Just watch. Give him that whip and he won't even be able to draw blood."

"Shut up," Kiba snapped in Naruto's general direction, though his eyes seemed unable to leave Neji's hard-pressed stare. And with the lieutenants implanted eyes, it was difficult to tell what his motives were.

"See that?" Naruto's head tilted back to look at the ceiling as if he were stretching his neck muscles. "He's too scared. You're pushing him way out of his league, Hyuuga."

"Nobody's asking you, pirate!" Kiba growled. Neji extended the whip towards him, a taut smile grazing his lips.

"Perhaps the _pirate_ is right," Neji sounded disappointed. "Bounty hunters just aren't what they used to be."

Naruto laughed and looked over his shoulder. "You got that right. This one here accused me of being a dickhead when we first met."

Fingers curling around the whip, Kiba's expression tightened. Either Naruto was saving his neck, or he was like every other space outlaw, desperate to prove himself. "If you want it that badly, Naruto, I won't go easy on you."

"Just make sure he can still speak well enough to tell us what we need to know," Neji amended, trying to hide his surprise as Kiba unfurled the whip. Its length slithered across the floor like a coiled snake, and it wasn't light in Kiba's palm. He knew instinctively that when the outcropping met with Naruto's flesh, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"I'm going to hurt you."

Naruto's smirk could still be seen even as he straightened his head. "I wouldn't expect anything less from the man I marked."

Pacing to stand a good distance behind Naruto, Kiba drew his arm back. He could tell the two officers were holding their breath. He could see Neji smirking from his peripheral vision. It wasn't the first time he'd used a whip; sometimes, with the worst of beasts, you had to go to extremes.

Kiba's wrist snapped forward and the whip unfurled, a small whistle sounding in its wake. Kiba's teeth clench together as peeled into Naruto's skin with a brutal crack. The pirate hissed, and then chuckled.

"I don't know. Maybe cyber-eyes over there is better at this, after all."

Two things registered in Kiba's mind. The first was that Naruto had just halfheartedly admitted that Neji was responsible for a good deal of the whip marks still healing on Naruto's back. The second was that if he didn't do the job correctly, inevitably, someone else would have to step in for him.

Pulling his arm back further, he thrust forward and this time, the whip screamed. Naruto groaned as blood spurted from his skin, and Kiba clenched his teeth hard, in disbelief at what he had been wrangled into doing.

"Say it again," Kiba barked.

Kiba needed Naruto to egg him on. Kiba hunted hardcore criminals; he didn't enjoy a fight with men who couldn't strike back. There was no fun in it. Just cruelty.

"What part?" Naruto asked, his head hung low. "The part about you being a pussy, or—"

Kiba struck him again, and this time, Naruto's face briefly showed the slightest bit of unbearable pain. He continued regardless.

"—or the part about you needing to put your back into it?"

Kiba seethed. "Are you…do you know the code?"

The pirate didn't answer.

"Naruto."

"I heard you."

Kiba growled. He knew why Naruto wasn't answering. Loyalty. It was something Kiba only shared with his family, and now, strangely enough, with the space pirate strung before him like a piece of meat that needed softening.

"You won't tell me?"

Again, no answer. Kiba prepared for one final whiplash, and made sure it was believably vicious. He saw the faces of the two officers turn pale, and when he twisted his head back to find Neji's gaze, he discovered it was unsettled.

Good, Kiba thought. Underestimate me.

"Leave me alone with him," Kiba demanded, and his voice snapped Neji out of whatever funk he had been pulled into. The two officers didn't need to be told twice as they scuttled out of the room, looking like they'd rather be anywhere but in the same room as Kiba and a bullwhip.

Neji narrowed his eyes, but it was brief in passing. "You'll interrogate him alone?"

"He's my bounty," Kiba's tone was threatening. "Mine."

Neji turned and left. The door slid closed, and Kiba stalked over to the control panel and deactivated all visual and audio recorders in the room. He dropped the whip on the floor like it was some vile thing and grabbed his phaser from an unused table; grateful whichever officer had confiscated it from Naruto hadn't taken it for themselves.

"You're a fucking moron," Kiba came to face Naruto from the front and gave him a glare that was sure to inspire at least a fraction of hesitation from any normal person. Naruto, however, merely grinned.

"You're a pussy."

Kiba pressed himself to Naruto's chest and aimed to press his phaser as close as he could to the bindings above Naruto's wrists. He wanted to shoot them from a short distance, so there was less of a chance he'd miss and hit a wall, and risk Neji bursting back inside. Kiba fired, and the bindings melted below the beam.

Naruto slumped forward and Kiba struggled to catch him. His phaser fell to the ground as his arms hooked around Naruto's chest. They both sank to the floor.

"Tell me what's going on with this code." When Naruto was able to sit up straight, Kiba was digging through the back pockets of his pants.

Naruto gave him an incredulous look. "Now why would I do a stupid thing like that? And what's that?" He asked, referring to a tube Kiba had revealed from his pocket.

"Antiseptic," Kiba popped the top off the tube and exposed a needle, and Naruto was immediately scooting away from him.

Kiba glanced up, irritated. "You'll volunteer to get whipped but you're afraid of a fucking needle?"

Naruto frowned. "You don't know where that's been."

"It's been in my pocket, moron," Kiba stated the obvious and paced towards the pirate, who was trailing smears of blood across the floor. "Come on. You—"

Naruto yanked Kiba's phaser from the ground and pressed it to Kiba's groin. At first, Kiba was surprised. The surprise turned to anger.

"You sure you want to do that?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Why not? Maybe afterwards, you'll sing real pretty. We could use some entertainment on the ship."

"There are so many things wrong with what you just said," Kiba glared. "It'll just help with possible infection."

Stepping forward, Kiba let the phaser slip between his legs. Naruto watched him carefully, and slowly, Kiba sank to the floor, nearly straddling Naruto's outstretched legs. Naruto rubbed the phaser back and forth, and Kiba resisted the urge to ride it.

"Kinky," Naruto said, though his eyes didn't leave the needle.

"Well, I've figured I've already whipped you today, so why not get fucked by a phaser?"

This comment caught Naruto by surprise and Kiba used the moment to stab the needle into his thigh. Naruto cursed and the gun went off, and burned a hole in the wall across from them.

"Fuck you!" Naruto yelled. "I could have blown off your fucking—"

"I thought you wanted me to sing for you?" Kiba retaliated dryly. He wasn't going to admit how relieved he felt that all his manly bits were still intact.

Naruto snorted and raised an interested brow. "Are you coming onto me?"

Glancing down at Naruto's stomach, he decided to give Naruto's words more life. "I could, but I really don't think we have the time."  
Naruto blinked, and then smirked. The unspoken attraction between them grew tenfold, and Kiba was reminded of why he had pursued Naruto for the past seven months.

"So what, you've got a plan?"

"My plan is that you tell me what's going on with this code. You're on my list, and so is that cyborg Killerbee." Kiba glanced down as Naruto drew the shooter upwards, its tip following the hem of Kiba's jeans until it hooked under Kiba's shirt. Kiba wasn't sure if he was happy or disappointed that he preferred wearing his jacket unzipped. At the moment, he was content. The cool metal of the gun gave rise to goose pimples on his flesh, and slowly, Naruto revealed his handiwork.

"Haha. It really is like I branded you."

Kiba wrapped his fingers around Naruto's wrist and they met eyes. "The Confederacy's going to brand the both of us if we don't figure something out."

"That's why you're a pussy," Naruto smiled, leaning back, and bringing the phaser away from Kiba's stomach. "You could've just whipped me to shreds, walked out, and they wouldn't have questioned your loyalty."

"I'm not loyal to them. And if being a pussy means getting you back to Sasuke, then believe what the fuck you want."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Sasuke?"

"We ran into each other. Akamaru's with him…or should be. And maybe Killerbee."

Naruto's eyes were still bright, and Kiba could see the mind working behind them. "The code leads to a ship," Naruto explained. "The best ship in the entire universe. The fastest ship. It's a legend. The Fed can't get ahold of it, Kiba. The Brethren swore to keep Bee safe."

"So you don't know the code? Only Bee does?"

"I've never known it." Naruto replied nonchalantly.

Kiba punched him in the face, hard.

"What the fuck was that for?" Naruto hollered, and Kiba pushed himself to his feet.

"For making me do shit I didn't have to do."

"Pussy."

Kiba brought his fingers to his lips and released a piercing whistle.

Neji burst inside the room, the sound loud enough to startle anyone so close, even through locked doors. The lieutenant examined the scene, and Naruto, unprepared, merely raised the phaser and shook it between both Neji and Kiba.

"Both of you, uh…stay back."

Kiba gave him two minutes. Akamaru took about thirty seconds longer. With him was Sasuke, and a great deal of other pirates that Kiba didn't know. Except for Rock Lee. He was difficult to forget. Apparently he was too, because the bug-eyed pirate gave him a quick smile that was gone as quickly as it had showed itself.

Kiba raised his hands in mock danger. "Oh, no…" he said, without effect. "What will we ever do…?"

Akamaru yipped and ran to him, and Sasuke had a phaser pressed to Neji's head. A couple of the other crewmen were helping Naruto to his feet. Naruto was staring with wild eyes at Kiba, willing the bounty hunter to go with them.

Time was running short.

Kiba picked up a phaser from the table and aimed it at Sasuke. "Shoot the lieutenant and I'll shoot you," he said.

Sasuke stared at him, and looked like he had been challenged to a duel. And then, Naruto placed a hand on his captain's shoulder. As Naruto and Kiba's eyes met, there was an understanding.

When trying to evade the Confederacy, it was always better to have an inside man.

"Leave," Kiba demanded, still eying Sasuke.

Neji looked baffled, and with some effort, fearful.

"I don't take orders," Sasuke repeated the line from earlier in the morning.

Kiba cocked his head to the side. "Neither do I."

The understanding was cemented, and in seconds, the pirates were gone. There were shouts in the hallways and footsteps rumbling, and in moments, nothing.

Kiba, while satisfied, felt a gaping hole in himself. He wondered if he could have gone. If he should have.

Neji gripped the siding of the doorway where he had been pinned and glared at Kiba, as if trying to decide for himself what had just happened.

"The dog led them here," he said, finally.

"Akamaru knows better than me not to help pirates," Kiba stated. "He is a machine, after all."

Neji frowned. "I said that if anything happened—"

"Is it still fishy if I saved your life?" Kiba asked, pulling his gun up to meet Neji's face.

"I'm sorry, Hyuuga, but I'm going to have to take back those eyes of yours. I'm pretty sure they recorded most of what was said in here, am I right?"

Neji paled.

Two shots rang out, low power, and Neji crumpled to the ground. Not dead, just unconscious. Kiba wanted to convince himself it was for him, so he could keep his job. But strangely enough, all he could think of were Naruto's scars, and taking down the one responsible for them.

The two guards from earlier rushed in, looking panicked. "W-what happened?" One asked. He had a black eye, and the other was limping. Kiba figured they'd been taken care of before Naruto's crew had burst in.

"An accident," Kiba replied, nonchalantly. "Get him to a doctor. I've got a pirate to catch."

And with that, he left Hell's Half prison with one thought in mind.

If Naruto and his crew had the code…who had the solar compass?

"Time for a treasure hunt, Akamaru," Kiba declared.

From below him, his massive hound barked in approval.


	3. Doomsday

**Doomsday**

**Kiba's Betrayal Arc, Part One**

Footsteps beat against the cool marble floors in such a way that Kiba felt his body tremble in their wake. He clutched the ruined patch of skin on his leg, sucking in a deep breath as the bloody wound sent sharp flashes of white to obscure his vision. The pain was literally blinding.

"Fuck," he fell to his knees and bit his lip. "I'm not gonna make it."

He panted in time with the hasty rhythm of blood pounding in his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. Kiba knew he had to focus. There was something important that he had to do. The footsteps were growing louder; he was losing time.

"'Maru…" he mumbled the name, and from beside him, the cybark whined. Akamaru hadn't made it out unscathed either. The wires were mangled and showing from his left leg, and blue blood had stained the mastiff's fluffy white coat. Still, the dog looked worried, and nudged at Kiba's shoulder with his snout.

"Hey," Kiba said seriously, and rubbed Akamaru's head. "You've got to get the compass to Naruto." He dug through an inner pocket of his jacket and revealed a rusted gold sphere, and took no time to admire it. Instead, he glanced around, as if to gage how much time he had, and then jammed it inside a gaping hole on the underside of Akamaru's hind leg; an injury put to good use. When he was sure it was secured in the mess of wires, Kiba sat back and coughed.

Akamaru didn't depart. He whimpered.

"I'll be okay," Kiba hoped. "Take the compass to Sasuke and Naruto. You _know_ we can't let the Feds have it. We both do…Akamaru, they're going to be here any minute. Go."

Kiba's head throbbed and he clenched his eyes shut. He tipped his head back and tried not to think of his fate.

"Akamaru. Go."

Kiba didn't open his eyes to look at his companion; he didn't want to risk changing his mind or feeling guilt. He had made his choice. He had chosen a side. And even if he felt Akamaru still sitting there, torn between loyalty and an order, he wouldn't give in.

The footsteps crackled not fifteen feet away, and Kiba bit his lower lip when Akamaru prodded him one last time.

"Go," Kiba breathed, his voice shaking. Within seconds, the canine's presence was gone.

Even with his eyes closed, the brutal flashlights of the officers searching for him were blinding. He cracked open one eye and felt a warm river of blood trickle past his ear, where a phaser had grazed him earlier.

"Kiba." One of the officers spoke and his voice was cold. "This is unexpected."

Kiba didn't have a clever response. His family was pretty high in the galactic foodchain, well known for their cybarks which were truly something to be feared. His family was strong; they didn't like taking orders. No, his turn on the Confederacy was not unexpected. The fact he had succeeded in stealing the compass, however, was.

The officer crouched down, eyes merely glistening pools beneath the heavy shadows of his cap. His lips were thin and unyielding. His chin worked to catch wrinkles that desperately tried to sink below his cheeks. There was no kindness about him, but Kiba didn't expect any.

"You will face the Inquisition," the man said softly. "But if you give it back, I can put in a good word…"

Kiba spat a bloody clump of spit at the officer's shoe. "I don't want your favors, Morino. The Confederacy doesn't own me."

Cocking his head back, the officer frowned. "That's a real shame, Inuzuka. The council had high hopes for you."

Kiba struggled to keep his train of thought. He could feel the bubbling sensation of gurgling blood numbing on his thigh, and it wasn't because his muscles and skin were healing. It was because he was running out of blood to lose.

"I don't belong…" he tried, but his thoughts were losing their continuity.

Morino squeezed his injured leg, and the sudden jolt of unbearable pain made Kiba howl. He saw the officer withdraw his heat-stunner and panic surged through him.

"We wouldn't want you to die before hearing your side of the story, of course," the captain said too kindly. "And besides, I believe you need a reminder of who youreally _do_ belong to."

Kiba struggled to move but he couldn't coordinate his movements. Morino slammed the heat-stunner to his gaping thigh and in an act that parodied a familiar intimacy for Kiba, burned the crest of the Federation onto his ruined flesh. He screamed until his voice was hoarse, and until the pain dappled his thoughts, and then his vision, and then his consciousness.

Kiba sat, hunched over, with his elbows resting on his knees. He was hiding behind a veil of oily and disheveled hair, clutching his skull as if to hold it in place. He stared at the floor, his tired eyes bloodshot and wide, and counted the scratches that marred the surface of the tile beneath his feet.

"Forty-three," he said, his voice hoarse and strangely foreign to his own ears. He lifted his head and dragged his hair back, raking through a few knots as he looked ahead, staring at the same white wall that greeted him every day. "Forty-three scratches."

That meant Kiba had woken up 43 times. There was no way to tell if that meant he'd been a prisoner for 43 days, but it was the only sense of time he had. There were no clocks or timespreads, no routine to when he received food. Sometimes, for what seemed like weeks at a time, the florescent lights would be left ablaze, so white that he couldn't find darkness even with his eyes clenched closed. He wouldn't sleep, and fitful bouts of sleep turned to insomnia. And then, just as Kiba thought he might break, the lights would go out. He would sink to the back of his cell, breathing tersely, adrenaline pumping from the sudden change.

Then the whimpering would start.

The sound would ghost through the halls, like a disembodied voice. It would grow louder, until Kiba could hear sobs wracking whoever it was being interrogated. It would always end in a horrific orchestra of shrieks and screams, and broken notes from a throat so worn from exertion that there was little to no voice left. Kiba would grip his head tightly, trying to shield his ears from the terrifying sounds, knowing that with each passing day, and each new voice begging for mercy, his turn was growing closer.

Forty-three scratches later, and he still hadn't said a word. Kiba supposed, in some part of his mind, he should be proud. His silence was a big 'fuck you' to the Confederacy, if only at the cost of his sanity. He was fraying at the edges, and he knew it.

Studying the lights above him, Kiba was almost thankful for his florescent induced insomnia, if only to avoid Morino's sick and twisted methods. He was still recovering from the last round of interrogation, with his back a grated mess of tazor scabs and his head constantly pounding as though his pulse were the secondhand of an archaic clock trapped inside his skull. As each heartbeat meant a second of his life had escaped him, Kiba realized he was counting down.

The lights had been on for days. Long enough that Kiba knew they'd be going out soon, and that he'd be hauled back to interrogation for the fifth time.

His body ached and his mind reeled.

Like Pavlov's dog, his body was beginning to react, terrified of the signs of countdown to his own torture. His palms were constantly sweaty. His shoulders and thighs tensed uncontrollably as he unconsciously relived the agony of being bound. If he let his mind slip, just once, it was almost as if he were already back in that room, face and chest pressed flat against a sturdy metal table. He could feel Morino's blade on is back, carving, scratching in the oath he had sworn to the Confederation all while making him repeat, over and over, every single line of it, word for word with his broken voice.

Kiba hated himself, thinking of every pirate and criminal he'd dragged to one of these places. Some of them had deserved it, but not many. Not enough that Kiba felt validated. Instead he felt like a monster, and his anger and guilt were beginning to fuel a shame inside of him that time was making harder to scrape away.

Kiba gasped and sat back, trying to focus and convince himself he wasn't losing his mind. For the umpteenth time, he tried to remind himself that this was what they wanted. What Morino wanted.

To the Confederation, Kiba was a rabid dog that needed to be broken. He was an inside man that had stolen the legendary four-key compass from Hyperious—the one planet where you had to be incredibly desperate to attempt any sort of crime. But he had been scheduled to report and the database had been left unlocked, and Kiba's curiosity led him to hack…and to his surprise, the compass was being kept at that very same facility, as well as a detailed and encrypted description of what it was.

He remembered Naruto saying it led to a ship…but what Kiba read made the hairs on his arms stand on end. It was much [i]_much_[/i] more than a ship. So much more that Kiba had become frantic about getting it away from the Confederation; driven by fear to steal the four-key with _only_ Akamaru's help, and, well, look at where that got him.

A shard of something stung the corner of his eye as he rubbed it. Kiba wondered if he should try and sleep, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to. His mind felt as though it was in a constant haze; he was trapped in a sleepwalking delirium frosted with colorless nightmares. Only, these days, his nightmares were real, and with each passing day, so was his mortality. And when the lights went down and the screams began, Kiba was nothing more than a shadow in a dark room; a figment of the outside world's imagination.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, there was only so much more he would be able to take. Kiba feared that if he was hit once more, in the right place, he would crumble to pieces. His stomach felt like lead. He knew he'd lost weight. Bile was driven up his throat by dread, and he tried unsuccessfully to swallow it back down, knowing that with each passing day he was becoming weaker.

"Why hasn't anyone come for me…" Kiba buried his face in his hands and sucked in stale air. For a moment, despair racked him. He thought of his family back on Maken Prime. He thought of his parents, who he hadn't seen in years, and wondered how badly he'd failed them. Akamaru passed the forefront of his nostalgia, and he hoped that Naruto and Sasuke were looking after him.

Naruto.

Out of anyone, Kiba had half expected him to show. He wasn't even sure why he felt betrayed, sitting alone in wait for his next interrogation. In the beginning, he had talked himself out of his frustration, convincing himself that if a space pirate could go through this shit, he could too. That he was strong enough to survive the prison, and brave enough to die when the Confederation got sick of him.

It wasn't bravery that kept Kiba's lips screwed shut, though. It was desperation. The only thing he still owned was his silence. He'd lost his pride already and he wasn't sure his life meant much without it.

The thought of leaving the world with things the way they were made him feel frustrated; he always thought he'd do something great; dislodge fate's claws from his back and carve his own path, one that didn't involve being the Confederation's bitch. But now, after 43 scratches on the floor and a fading sense of hope, he didn't want to think about it. He had done what he could do, and the compass would be safe with people he trusted, whether they came for him or not. And hopefully, Akamaru would be safe, too.

But really, they didn't owe him anything. They were pirates.

"It doesn't matter," he grumbled, leaning back against the wall. "I just gotta keep my mouth shut."

It was getting harder to convince himself that the compass had been worth it.

Kiba growled, and collapsed onto his side, hiding his eyes beneath his palms. "I stole it because it was the right thing to do," he reminded himself, quietly. "That's got to count for something. I'm not going to let these fuckers get the best of me."

There were footsteps in the distance; like stiff pebbles bouncing evenly across the tiled flooring. At first, Kiba chalked it up to his imagination, but when the sounds grew louder, he felt his insides crawl. If someone was finally coming for him, they must have decided he had finally reached a breaking point.

Kiba wasn't sure he could convince them otherwise.

"Inuzuka," a deep voice sounded, and Kiba didn't move, save a tremor of fear that spiked its way up his spinal column.

"Kiba Inuzuka," the man said with a familiarity that made a lump form in the shallow part of Kiba's throat. "Get up. We have twenty minutes, or we'll miss the show."

Kiba peeled his palms from his eyes and blinked rapidly, adjusting to the room's brightness. He lay curled on his bunk, struggling to summon the energy to cheerlead himself into another round of the intimate bloodplay Morino seemed to favor. He narrowed his light sensitive eyes at the commander, feeling his muscles grow taut and his back ache and throb, as if to remind him that he wasn't healed enough to go through it all again.

"What type of show?" Kiba asked warily. He tried to hide the fact he was terrified, but knew he was doing a piss-poor job. He watched as Morino slid a keycard through the security panel just outside of his cell, causing the opaque and humming wall of pure energy to fade and vanish.

Morino stared at him, evenly. A different look than usual. "When you're in a position to ask questions, I'll let you know. Now get up and follow me," and with that, Morino stalked away. Kiba wondered if it was a joke, asking him to follow without being cuffed or restrained. Then he realized, with a defeated sense of curiosity, that there was no way he could possibly escape.

Kiba stood on shaky feet and followed the commander. The hallways looked as they always did. Plain, white, and paneled, with hardly any grooves and an impeccable gleam. The floors were tiled and so clean that they gleamed, and were cold against Kiba's bare feet. The little energy he had was focused on Morino, waiting for him to say or do [i]_something_[/i]. To Kiba's surprise, after they'd been walking for a couple only of minutes, the commander abruptly stopped.

Morino slid his keycard through another device, and a door slid open to reveal a shower room. "Make it quick."

Kiba stared at him, his lips pursed. After so long and feeling as detached as he did, the idea of a shower seemed absurd. Who needed their body to be clean when their mind was a fucking mess?

"Well?" Morino's mouth slipped into a frown, and Kiba's skin crawled. He had seen that look many times before, and it had always been followed by brutal lashings and the taste of blood.

Kiba summoned the slightest bit of spunk, testing the grounds of the offer. "What, you want me to wash the blood of my back so you can get a better look at your handiwork?" Morino's eyebrow twitched and Kiba felt his pulse stumble, but he kept a poker face.

"Don't try my patience," Morino's voice had an edge to it that made Kiba bite his tongue. The idea of being naked in front of the man mad Kiba's skin crawl. As much as Morino had dragged him through tortuous rounds of interrogation, Kiba thanked whatever gods there might be that none of it had been sexual. He shivered at the thought. But still, in Kiba's worst recollections, Morino had been pressed against him from behind, carving—

"You have five minutes," Morino stated.

Kiba, snatched from his thoughts, nodded. He hadn't been clean since he had been arrested. He'd attempted to rinse on occasion by using the drinking water they'd given him, but the idea of a hot shower seemed so unbelievable that he couldn't even summon excitement.

The door closed behind him he undressed, reached for the controls, and sucked in deep breaths of steamy fog. Naked and drenched in water hot enough to turn his skin russet, Kiba scrubbed at his hair and watched as water clouded with dirt and dried blood swirled below him until it was devoured by the drain. His back stung so badly that he found himself grinding his teeth and clenching his fists.

When he was sure he had been soaking for too long Morino proved him right by stepping inside and shutting the system off, and tossing him a black shirt and black pants.

Kiba dried off, feeling somewhat rejuvenated by his newfound sense of personal hygiene, and a bit more human now that he didn't feel like he was wearing a sweat coated second skin. His pride was slowly coming back, drinking him in with aggravated tugs.

He dressed and Morino led him out, and again, they were wandering the hallways with a purpose only the officer knew. Kiba realized that he had once been used to walking these halls with an affirmed sort of confidence. Those days seemed so long ago. As a prisoner, the penitentiary was a completely different place, this one especially. They didn't call it death's doorstep for nothing. After all, it was the home of the Space Gallows.

"So, what, no new schemes to make me talk today?" Kiba couldn't resist asking. He felt like a piece of thawing meat, slowly escaping the pocket of his cell, life seeping back into him.

To this, Morino stopped, turned and looked Kiba up-and-down. Kiba held his own; despite the intimidation. Obviously something about this encounter was different; he'd been with Morino for more than ten minutes and he wasn't bruised and bloody.

"You talk too much as it is," the commander answered mutely. "Just not about the right things. The council thinks you've learned your lesson and they want you to carry out the remainder of your contract."

Kiba gaped, realizing that he'd rather go back to being tortured than being the Confederacy's errand boy. How was he supposed to hunt knowing what he knew, and having gone through what he had? Everything in his mind had changed. And that was probably the point. The council was rubbing it in his face; the fact they owned him.

Morino interpreted his silence correctly. "You [i]do[/i] remember what your parents face should you fail, correct? In fact, you're lucky nothing's happened to them yet, considering. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that they have no knowledge of your current situation. They would be so disappointed, don't you think?"

Kiba swallowed when Morino motioned him forward, and when the automated doors slid open, he was met with a light brighter than the fluorescents he had been blinded with for weeks. It was the sun beaming into a bustling front lobby through windows that stretched the entire surface of the outer wall, overlooking a concrete lot that Kiba had never seen before, yet identified immediately.

"The Gallows," Kiba breathed. His heart climbed to his throat and hung there, pounding with anxiety.

Morino ignored his look of fearful surprise. "The higher-ups are willing to pretend like none of this ever happened."

Kiba flinched. That didn't sound good. The Confederation never forgot [i]_anything_[/i]. Not without a hefty price. And with his contract in the balance…

Kiba was jolted from his thoughts when an officer pushed past him uncaringly. Watching the world around him seemed to refurbish his hatred for politics, and spurred a horrible deep-seeded curiosity he had always had when told legends of the gallows.

Call him old-fashioned, but Kiba had always thought the scene would look archaic, with dilapidated pieces of wood that were reminiscent of the place's namesake. Instead, it was a cement lot caged in a glass dome with a narrow walkway Kiba assumed was for the ceremonial processions he had often witnessed on the tele-tron screens at docking stations. It led to a hatchway; a small building where shuttles revved before they were dispersed. In this case, they were shot clear into the glittering universe, never to be seen or heard from again.

A throng of workers and officers had gathered at the window, and Kiba worked to keep his personal bubble. It wasn't until a man beside Kiba with a deputy badge clapped his hands together that Kiba realized the onlookers were excited. Looking around at their faces made him feel sick.

"Do you know how this works?" Morino crossed his arms over his chest, serious. Kiba was reluctant to feel a bit of respect for the man, as he watched the scene with an abysmal sense of disgust. It didn't last long because Kiba's hatred for Morino was stronger.

"I've heard stories," Kiba replied. The stories had marveled him as a child, but now, seeing it from a criminal's eyes, he felt horrified at the thought.

"Three days," Morino stated, and his voice was so low that Kiba struggled hearing it over the excited chatter around them. Morino then looked him in the eye. "After you've been vaulted into space, you've got three days worth of oxygen. Three days 'til you suffocate."

Having not known that, Kiba felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It was morbid.

He didn't want to imagine being trapped in an escape capsule, waiting to die.

"Your parents," Morino brought up from earlier, but his voice was drowned out by a chorus of whispers and laughter as a prisoner was led out, down the pathway, and towards a certain an inevitable doom.

[i]_The gallows are a last resort_[/i], Kiba remembered hearing once. The worst of the worst were subjected to them; the scum of space that the Fed couldn't wait to permanently scrape off their shoes.

The prisoner disappeared into the hatchway, and Kiba turned his head to lock eyes with Morino. "My oath was to serve for five years, or face death. So, what? You've got me where you want me. Get it over with. My parents have nothing to do with it."

It took more courage than he thought he had to get those words out.

A vein in Morino's forehead twitched, and his lips thinned. "You took your oath when you were seventeen. You were a minor, and your parents sold you to us. Every crime you commit is a crime they commit, understand?"

Kiba's stomach dropped and he felt himself pale. He was sure he looked like a mouse, cornered by a cruel and weathered cat, anxious to play with his food. "Fuck you."

Morino almost smirked. "Watch your mouth. The only reason I haven't motioned to have you killed is because you're the only person to ever survive over two months under my questioning."

[i]_Over two months_[/i], the words echoed in Kiba's mind.

Morino was watching the hatchway the criminal had disappeared into, thoughtfully. "If you fail this last mission, you can guarantee that the people closest to you will end up right there."

"You [i]_need_[/i]my parents' research," Kiba found himself arguing and at this, Morino almost smirked.

"Are you sure about that?"

Kiba's face fell as he realized that his family's fate rested on his shoulders and that there was nothing he could do about it.

"You know where the compass is," Morino shifted where he stood, and the wrinkles on his face were taught with seriousness. "Bring it back. Make it so this whole ordeal never happened, and then, Kiba Inuzuka, disappear."

Kiba could feel how wide his eyes were and how shocked he looked. He thought about his loyalty to Naruto, and he thought about the love he had for his family.

"You'll do it?" Morino was watching as smoke billowed outside, like streamers during a celebration let loose to the wind.

A cheer erupted from the onlookers crowding the window and Kiba watched as a capsule rode the chute and glistened in the sky like a shooting star.

He didn't want to imagine his mom, dad, or sister in one of those things, catapulted into the unending universe, forgotten.

"I'll do it."

* * *

The Zippit was pretty much an underground pub (or as underground as a pub could get when it sat smack-dab in the middle of the largest city on Ion Revv) with flashing lights and blinking neon sign that was often times broken and read 'The pit'. It was a seedy establishment with horrid food and even worse clientele; a little hole-in-the-wall that attracted anyone and everyone that either feared or despised the Confederation. For that reason, The Zippit was a hideout for all sorts of refugees and criminals and also a home to others. It doubled as an Inn, and Kiba had become familiar with its hospitalities on more than one occasion.

Stepping inside, Kiba was met with a wall of peppermint flavored smoke, thick and chalky. He could see the ghost of it settled like a mist, blurring the edges of his sight. His eyes watered and he waved a hand in front of his face, trying to clear the air and make sense of the shadowy figures that stalked about, or sat seated at scattered stubby tables.

A glowing star-date flickered on a neon sign that hung from the ceiling, reminding Kiba he'd been missing from the world for quite a long time. He was sure the news had spread about him; the fact he had stolen the compass and been captured. That was the type of news the Fed was eager to shell out, if only to prove a point that rebelling was a lost cause.

Kiba was starting to wonder if it was.

A few yellow eyed creatures stared at him from across the room; he could see their eyes glowing like perfectly paralleled fireflies, hovering in the near darkness. Kiba guessed they had been attracted by the Inuzuka logo on his jacket, as he'd made some trouble for their kind before. He ignored them, knowing the Zippit's owner wouldn't put up with any brawls. It was one of her rules: if you came to hide, you pocketed your pride at the door.

"Kurenai," Kiba slid onto a narrow stool at a slim-fitted bar, and held up his hand to catch the owner's attention. He felt lucky to know her personally. It had only been two days time since he'd been dismissed from Hyperious Prime, and his thoughts were so muddled that he could hardly remember what he had done during the time between.

At the sound of her name in the crowd, the woman named Kurenai abruptly turned, and promptly ignored a six armed man trying to jam a bill in her face for an ale. She caught Kiba's eyes and her own lit up, but there was something else that flickered behind their depths. She glanced around cautiously before making her way over to where Kiba was seated.

"Hey, kiddo," she leaned down, sliding her elbows onto the counter, her long black hair spilling past her cheeks and pooling on the countertop. She blinked and Kiba remembered how much her eyes had caught him off guard when they had first met, because they were a shimmering scarlet, with pupils so dilated that they hardly existed at all. "Long time no see."

From behind her, the six armed man yelled, "'Tender, I want my ale!" Kurenai rolled her eyes before giving him a middle finger salute over her shoulder.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "You've still got balls, I see," he commented, and she grinned. Kiba let his eyes wander the room before adding, "You need them to run this sort of place."

Kurenai's grin widened, and she looked like she agreed. "Luckily everyone here is fighting for the same cause, so I'm forgiven," She gave him that look again, and Kiba couldn't help but feel like she was implying something. She eyed him the way his mother used to when she knew there was more on his mind than he was letting on, and he frowned, wondering if he's lost his poker face to the Confederation as well. He motioned for Kurenai to lean in closer and whispered, "I'm looking for Aburame. Does he still come here?"

Kurenai pulled back to look him in the eye, to see if he was serious. When Kiba failed to show any humor, she leaned back in, her lips grazing his ear as she said, "He probably already knows you're here," she answered, and Kiba sighed.

Beside his hand, he saw a crater roach race across the countertop, all the way down the bar table, narrowly avoiding arms, drinks, and bowls of wiggling vegetables as they slammed against the surface. The bug skittered towards the end of the table where Kiba noticed a jacket propped against the wall, hood drawn up to cover a thick pair of black, wide-rimmed goggles.

"Perfect," Kiba started to stand, but Kurenai's fingers wrapped tightly around his wrist.

"There have been rumors," she stared at him, questioning Kiba without really asking him anything.

Kiba shrugged, not feeling up to storytelling his last few months. He shook her hand from his wrist. "Don't help spread them," he said, simply.

She watched him leave with worried eyes, and Kiba thanked her regardless. She'd looked after him when he'd had no one, and he owed her for all the concern she'd poured into him over the years. He'd have to repay her later on however, considering he had his own agenda, and it was the strange man smothered by the shadows, swallowed by a coat.

"Shino," Kiba held up a hand as if to say he had come in peace. The jacket moved just barely, and Kiba grimaced when he saw the swarming mass of bugs beneath it, crawling in and out wherever they could find openings and pooling on the floor in a writhing mass. A good five foot radius around the man was completely vacant, and Kiba felt his own skin prickle at the thought of those bugs swarming him.

Kiba chalked it up to good faith that he and the man called themselves friends.

"Kiba."

"How can you even see me?" Kiba leaned down, peering underneath the hood with a grin. He could sense other people in the pub staring at him, wondering who was fool enough to approach someone from the Aburame clan. They were better known than Kiba's family, and for far different reasons. The Aburame clan was a mercenary group that got away with murder, literally, because the Fed hadn't figured out how to trace any crimes back to them.

"People are staring at you." Shino's goggles glinted, and Kiba scuffed his foot against the flooring without care. He avoided looking around to see just how many curious eyes he'd attracted. "People are always staring at me."

"True," Shino seemed to agree, though he seemed thoughtful. And then, after a moment, he abruptly changed subjects. "You're back."

Kiba put his hands in his pockets and sat down on the stool beside Shino's, careful to avoid stepping on any of his companions.

"More or less," he replied.

There was a moment of silence; of analyzing, and Shino said, "I've heard a lot about you over the past year. Most of which I'm not sure I believe. But I must, because _they _have told me."

'They', scurried about the floor and jetted past the tabletop beside Kiba, and he tried to ignore them. "Yeah, a lot's happened. A lot's still happening. I was wondering if you could help me out. Do what you do best, for an old friend."

Shino visibly shifted this time, and Kiba watched his jacket move in ripples and the hundreds and thousands of insects beneath the fabric ushered the movement. "And what do I do best?"

Kiba smiled. "Find people."

Somewhere in the pub a glass shattered and a loud roar of laughter erupted at the same time. Kiba cast a glance over his shoulder and then turned back, feeling a bit on edge. Normally he could enter the Zippit and feel a few eyes on him, and pretend he was imagining it. Now, he felt like everyone was watching him, even if they were putting on a good show of pretending not to.

"Helping you could put me in danger," Shino stated, as if confirming the mysterious fear building in Kiba's gut. Why did he feel in danger himself? Kiba always had the one-up. But now, a feeling was threading its way up through his nerves, a primal instinct that made him wonder if being in lock-up for so long really [i]_had_[/i] driven him insane, or if everyone in the Zippit felt like they had happened upon fresh meat.

Kiba shrugged. "It's important," he said simply, as if to justify his request.

Shino chuckled soundlessly, his shoulders bouncing. A centipede inched out of his collar, and Kiba watched it slowly make its way down his coat. A chill ran up his spine.

"Who are you looking for?" Shino finally asked, after some silent deliberation.

Feeling a sense of relief, Kiba leaned forward. "For starters, my pup. I know how difficult it is tracing cybarks, though. He should be with a pirate named Uchiha."

Shino didn't move, and Kiba could have sworn that he heard a few of the tables go quiet around them. A part of him really wished he knew why Sasuke was so damn important. He knew about who he knew about, and really, all that encompassed was who he had ever been assigned to hunt, and who he had happened to run into along the way. Sasuke Uchiha was a name he hadn't heard before meeting Naruto.

Once the clamor around them returned, Shino folded forward a bit, looking a bit like he had no bones beneath is clothes, and was just a mass of bugs and whitish skin. "So the rumors were true."

"Depends on the rumors," Kiba caught the curious glance of a four-eyed woman with bright orange hair and frowned. When Shino didn't elaborate, Kiba raised an eyebrow, his curiosity getting the best of him. "What rumors are going around, anyway?"

"Do I look like the gossiping type?" Shino's arm moved, and his fingers slowly revealed themselves from within the sleeve of his jacket. Kiba wanted to argue that yes, he was, because all he and his bugs did was collect information from people. But apparently it wasn't the right time or place to air Kiba's dirty laundry, and Kiba figured he'd find out soon enough why everyone seemed to be hanging on his every word.

Kiba watched as two fat beetles with bright blue heads crawled onto the unblemished skin of Shino's palm. He handed one to Kiba and Kiba took it, grimacing slightly as the bug crawled up the sleeve of his jacket and disappeared into his pocket. He stared at its new home, trying not to feel awkward to have rented out some living space to a bug.

"Um, thanks."

"That one's a specialty," it was hard to tell, but Kiba thought that the Aburame looked quite proud. "When I hear anything about Akamaru, you'll know," Shino said, with promise. "Luckily, your captain isn't too far away, at the moment."

"He's not _my_ captain," Kiba clarified. "And—what?"

Shino looked past him and frowned. "You've got company."

Kiba raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by Shino's sudden change in demeanor before he felt a presence behind him. He turned, but slender fingers yanked him up by the collar before he had a good chance to take in his assailant.

"I heard you say you were looking for an Uchiha, and I wanted to clarify which one."

Eyes an impossible shade of green bore into Kiba's, and he was taken back, wondering how a woman could be strong enough to hold him practically an inch above the floor, his toes scraping and scuffing the tile as he tried to find balance. He grabbed at her wrist and from behind a skinned-grey hood, saw the woman's hair creep out, pale and pink.

"Sasuke," Kiba coughed, still scrambling to try and find footing. "Sasuke Uchiha." The girl didn't let up; in fact, her expression seemed to dim.

"Why?" She demanded.

"Because he has something of mine? Jesus, woman, put me down!" Kiba gasped.

His request was met and he stumbled back when the soles of his boots smacked against the ground. He caught himself against the table and glared up at the stranger, straightening the lapel of his jacket in an effort to redeem some of his pride.

"You're a Fed. Everyone has something of yours," she said a bit coldly.

"Well, Sasuke has something [i]_important_[/i] of mine, and I don't think he'd mind giving it back, considering he's been babysitting it for almost two months now." Kiba sighed and glanced around wearily, realizing something unusual.

"Wait a minute," Kiba raised an eyebrow, a thought creeping to the forefront of his mind. "You think I've been working for the Confederacy the last few months?" The question was haunting as Kiba muddled through the possibility that nobody knew he had been arrested for stealing the compass. While no one had come to save him, he was sure the news should have spread like wildfire.

"I'm pretty sure everyone here knows about you and your [i]_dedication_[/i]to the government," the woman spat.

The room had become nearly quiet, as if every guest of the Zippit was straining to hear what he had to say. "So nobody knows…" he said to himself, not sure whether to feel relieved or insanely frustrated. When the woman gave him a skeptical look, he stepped closer to her, so that he could speak only loud enough for her to hear.

"I need Sasuke," Kiba said to the woman, quietly. "Because he has my dog. That's all that I want from him." He tried to say the last part as genuinely as possible, because it was true, and also because he could see the spitfired loyalty behind the glare the woman was delivering him. Loyalty towards Sasuke, for reasons unknown. She didn't look like she believed his sincerity, but her the hardness in her eyes softened nonetheless.

"If any of you have problems with this fed leaving with me," she looked around them, and was surprised to find everyone's eyes on them, soaking up her every word, "then take it up with Sasuke Uchiha."

Kiba felt the air in the room grow cold after her comment, and she grabbed Kiba's wrist and tugged him forward, towards the entryway door. A couple of bullish men leapt to their feet and started to speak, but Kiba saw Kurenai stalking towards them, and caught the worried glance she tossed his way as he made his way outside.

The air was cold and moist and Kiba's skin turned clammy, and he shook himself free from her forceful grasp. The action caused her head to snap back at him, as if she was convinced that if he wasn't holding him he'd bolt.

"What did you say your name was?" She asked, while plowing forward, putting distance between themselves and the bar. Kiba wondered why they were making such a hasty escape on his behalf.

"I didn't. You tried to choke me before I could even manage a hello. But if you'd like to start over, I'm game." Kiba patted the waistband of his pants to make sure his phaser was still intact, and then glanced up, waiting for her response. She looked irritated, but glanced down to see what he had been doing. With irritation, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Give me your weapon," she held out her hand matter-of-factly.

"What?" Kiba stared at her as though she was crazy.

In return, she rolled her eyes. "You want to meet my captain, give me your weapon."

"Uh…" Kiba raised an eyebrow. "You're a member of his crew?" That certainly explained the protectiveness she seemed to exude for the other man.

"Obviously," the woman replied. "My name is Sakura. And once again, you are…?" She would have been a pretty thing if she didn't come across so barbaric. Plus she had pink hair, which was escaping the confines of her hood and curling around the curves of her cheeks. Not that it wasn't pretty, and Kiba had seen a lot of strange looking women in his life, but it all seemed to add up to the fact that while she merely appeared to be a delicate flower, she was secretly lethal.

"You don't know who I am?" Kiba pointed out warily. Honestly, he was the only Inuzuka that worked for the Confederation [i]_and _he had saved Naruto twice.

After Sakura lent him a criticizing glare, he caved. "My name is Kiba."

Sakura made a quick right and Kiba followed her into a dark alley, where a breeze ruffled his hair and chilled the sweat on his skin. "That's right," she nodded, and ducked under a low hanging grate meant to catch rain water, and led Kiba to a walkway. Judging by the signs lining its edges, the road led to port. "Naruto and Sasuke mostly refer to you by your last name."

A brief swell of happiness ran a lap through Kiba's thoughts, and he felt slightly better knowing that he had been mentioned at all. It dimmed however, when he thought about how little he probably meant to their crew. To them, he was just a Confederation worker, even if he [i]_had_[/i]helped them a couple of times. But to him, they were different. He felt a loyalty to them, and he wasn't entirely sure why, and he felt like an idiot being drawn to something that would never want him the same way.

"You said Sasuke has your dog?" Sakura questioned him, and they made their way to a docking point. There were only three ships hovering off the edge, and none of them were impressive looking.

"Yeah," Kiba answered, stiffening. "Look, if I work for the Confederation, are you sure you want to be showing me your ship?"

Sakura rolled her eyes before pointing towards the one furthest left. It was a giant gunmetal gray bulb that was cleverly stretched forward at the front in order to be more dynamic against space currents. Kiba didn't know much about ships, but he could recognize the gunning stations and the pilot's deck, and the thick-hulled cargo bay beneath.

"That's it. The Avenger. And I'm not worried about you seeing it, because I've decided to assume that you're everything Naruto's said. And one of those things," she glanced at him evenly, "is [i]_good_[/i]."

That sounded subjective enough. Kiba decided to take the compliment, even though he wasn't sure what it meant. Of course he wasn't good. He worked for the Confederacy and had imprisoned hundreds of practically innocent pirates and rebels, and now he was going to betray the one [i]_really_[/i] goodthing he'd ever done, which was steal the compass in the first place.

They were almost directly underneath the ship when a voice startled them from behind.

"Well, this is new."

Kiba turned and saw Sasuke leaning back against a hydrogen powered lamppost, arms crossed over his chest, his hair somewhat dampened by the creeping fog that wafted in tendrils around them. He was holding a satchel and looked irate, much like a cat that had been forced into a bath.

"Actually it's Kiba Inuzuka," Sakura said. "Though I'm pretty sure you've already met."

Kiba swallowed. Sasuke was threatening, even if he wasn't that big or bulky or muscular. In fact, because he was so lithe, he was almost more intimidating that the meathead pirates or cybernetic folk that Kiba was usually assigned. His eyes were black, and deeper than the deepest swell of space Kiba had ever seen. Once, as a child, he'd seen a black hole swallow up stars—but Sasuke's eyes were worse. They'd seen and swallowed far more, it felt like.

"What are you doing here?" It was barely a question. In fact, Sasuke seemed almost hesitant, more like he was entertaining the notion that Kiba had even shown up at all. Kiba recognized the feeling at once. Sasuke didn't trust him.

"I came for Akamaru," Kiba said, blinking as the sky started to spill rain. He felt anxious when Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Try again, Inuzuka."

Kiba decided that Sasuke saw through him. "And the compass. I've come for that, too."

This time, Sasuke looked surprised, and Sakura took a couple steps forward in order to get a good look at his face. She was staring at him like he has lost his mind.

"You came for [i]_what_?[/i]" and then she sank backwards, looking pissed. "Ha ha. Very funny. Rub it in our faces that the Confederation has the damn thing, and that they've sent [i]_you_[/i], it's [i]_guardian_[/i] out—"

"Guardian?" It was Kiba's turn to look surprised. "Who? Me?"

"We should go inside," Sasuke pushed forward off the post and walked past Kiba and Sakura, not sparing either of them a glance. Kiba could see the shadows under the captain's eyes though, and the wariness of a man pushed to his limits. Sasuke wasn't in a good mood. Kiba decided that he wasn't either, and frowned, having expected a bit more of a welcome from the crew he had practically hand-delivered the compass to.

"Come on," Sakura prodded him in the ribs, and Kiba hissed. He wondered when his flesh wouldn't feel so taut and sore. Even his sides, which hadn't been marred at all, were tender.

After following them both to the underbelly of the ship, Kiba watched as Sasuke completed an optic scan that activated the lower boarding doorway. Muggy air engulfed him as he boarded, making his jacket cling to his skin, and his face flush. He'd never been good with heat.

From the outside, the ship was an old sheet of metal, practically-shaped in order to travel the galaxy at medium to high speeds. The inside, however, was nicer than Kiba had expected. It wasn't clean cut like Confederacy ships were—wiped so shiny and immaculately clean that everything looked new. But it was organized, and Kiba found himself thinking that it was much how he'd expect a home to look, with a few articles of clothing tossed here and there, and homemade bits of technology poking out from the server stations that lined the walkways.

Sakura removed her jacket and Sasuke did the same with his own, but neither made an offer to take Kiba's. Not that he would have given it up—he was sure his undershirt was a sticky mess of sweat and cuts that had been aggravated.

"You said something about me being a guardian?" Kiba broke the awkward silence with his skepticism. Sasuke was moving further down the hallway, and didn't answer his question. Instead, he ordered Sakura to retrieve Naruto and Lee, and two other people Kiba didn't know.

When she disappeared, Kiba slowly walked the length of the hallway, taking in the ship with curious eyes. Despite his trade, he had never been on a pirate's ship before. He'd always lured his prey out and about where he and Akamaru would have the advantage. He wondered what it would be like to wander these halls, and what it would feel like to call this space—this ship—your own.

"Stop touching her," Sasuke's voice was sharp, and Kiba hadn't realized that his fingers had found their way to the ship's wall. He withdrew and stepped back, and finally felt irritated enough to say something about Sasuke's lousy attitude.

"I really don't get what you're so angry about," Kiba frowned and he let his hands drop to his sides. "I mean honestly, I have [i]_no_[/i] idea." He repeated the last part mostly to convince himself. If anyone deserved to be mad it was him for being left to his own devices for two months with a psychopath like Morino.

Sasuke watched him with hawk eyes. He didn't get the opportunity to answer before voices could be heard echoing off the walls and through the pipes in the ceiling panels. There was loud thudding and Kiba whipped to the side to see Naruto race down a metal grated stairwell, eyes wide, only to stop dead in his tracks.

He didn't' look happy. He didn't look mad. He looked…betrayed. It was this expression that led Kiba to believe that something was wrong. Or something had gone horribly wrong. He searched his mind for what it could be, and suddenly felt cold. "Akamaru. Where is he?"

Sasuke fumed silently as Sakura came beside him and sat on a crate at his feet, and Lee pushed Naruto forward so that they were all on the quarterdeck, in a circle.

"Maybe I came in late," Lee held out a finger, "but what do we have of his?"

Kiba felt the wheels in his head turn. They didn't have Akamaru? How could the [i]_not_[/i] have Akamaru?

"Nothing," Sasuke said bluntly.

Kiba couldn't bring himself to meet Naruto's eyes, because they were too piercing and asking too many questions. Questions even he didn't know the answer to. Plus, he was beginning to feel panic roiling within him.

"Akamaru's not here?" Kiba could hardly digest the thought. "Do you mean he's not here [i]_anymore_[/i] or that he was just…never here?" Kiba could hear the distress in his own voice and couldn't even begin to control it.

Kiba watched as Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, and then Sasuke idly asked, "Where're Konohamaru and Shikamaru?"

"'Maru's sick and Shikamaru is hiding, assumably," Sakura answered. "You know how he is…"

"What does that have to do with anything!" Kiba was clenching his fists. "Did…did he never make it here?"

The silence in the room was enough to answer his question. Something in Kiba's mind snapped. He'd only held on to his meager and meaningless life while imprisoned because he knew Akamaru was safe. All of that time, something had happened and he hadn't even [i]_known_[/i]. Kiba swallowed a lump in his throat and whirled around, planting his fist into the wall he had admired earlier. "Fuck!"

"Holy shit," Naruto was behind him in an instant, tugging him back with strong and lean arms. No one else had even budged, and Kiba felt like collapsing, then and there, into nothing.

Not only was Akamaru missing, but the compass too. The compass that would save his parents and set himself free.

"I think that we need to start from the beginning," Sasuke stated, and Sakura finished with, "Wherever that is."

Naruto held Kiba against him longer than necessary, and Kiba grimaced as his back was constricted against Naruto's chest, his skin rubbed raw by his shirt and jacket. He decided not to mention the compass.

"I sent Akamaru to you, to keep him safe for a while. I…went somewhere, and this was the only place I could think of," he answered irately.

From behind him, Naruto asked, "To keep him safe while you toted the compass around for the Confederacy?"

Kiba shook himself loose from Naruto and turned to look at him straight in the eye. "Why the fuck would I spend _months_ of my life—" something clicked in his mind. Of course, Morino had said his parents didn't know he'd been caught. It was only logical they'd make up some bullshit story to cover their tracks. "What do you think I've been doing the past few months?"

"Working for the Confederacy, like always," Sasuke snorted. "Running their errands, like the little servant boy you are."

Kiba was taken aback. "The compass was [i]_stolen_[/i] from the Confederacy. You called me a guardian earlier. Is that the rumor they spread? That I was [i]_protecting_[/i] it?"

Naruto and Sasuke once again shared a look. "It was stolen?" Naruto asked, completely surprised. "When? How? By who?"

To this, Kiba didn't answer.

"How would someone have stolen it? That place is under lock and key," Lee was saying to Sakura, and she was nodding intently. Sasuke was staring at Kiba, and Naruto was too.

Kiba swallowed his emotions and shook his head. "I've got to go. If Akamaru's not here, I've got to find him."

"Not so fast," Sasuke held up a hand, and Naruto came to stand behind him, blocking his path. "Are you being traced?"

"What?" Kiba asked as though the question was ridiculous. Naruto's hands came from behind to search him, and Kiba skittered forward out of surprise. "Hey!" he shouted back at Naruto. The fact he sounded defensive seemed to make Naruto suspicious, because he pushed Kiba against the wall and pressed his hands against Kiba's hips, and up towards his shirt—

"I'm not being traced. Don't—" Kiba panicked a Naruto's hands slipped underneath his shirt only to halt their exploration of his skin almost immediately. Kiba clenched his teeth together, feeling the pirate's fingers settle over his mangled skin.

"…the fuck?" Naruto whispered, his hands drifting higher, tracing the awful contours. Kiba wanted to disappear.

"What, he's got something on him?"

Kiba waited for Naruto to say something about the cuts; to make a joke or demand to see his back. Instead, Naruto did the complete opposite.

"Not that I can tell," Naruto's hands emerged and moved to the front pockets of Kiba's jacket, and after making a questionable face, he tugged out the beetle that was hidden there.

Naruto almost screamed like a girl after tossing it into the air, a look of horror on his face. Kiba whirled around and stumbled forward to catch it. He played a game of hot potato in an attempt to grasp it and then apologized to it profusely. Who knew what his fate would be if Shino knew he'd managed to get his bug killed less than 24 hours after having adopted it.

"What the fuck is that?" Naruto looked exactly the way Kiba remembered him looking when he'd pulled out a syringe all of those months ago.

Sasuke didn't' look surprised. "A tracer."

"For Akamaru," Kiba clarified. "It's a tracer from a friend—a non-Confederate friend—to help find him."

Sasuke looked like he had doubts, but he didn't' say anything to confirm them. "Right. Naruto, you should hold onto it, just in case."

Jaw dropping to the floor, Naruto glanced from the bug to Sasuke, and back to the bug. "Why [i]_me_[/i]?"

"Because I said so. Now take it."

"No," Kiba swiped it away. "I can't lose this, or kill it. It's the only way for me to find—"

"He'll take good care of it," Sasuke assured, but Kiba already felt like he had lost a battle that hadn't even begun.

"You don't understand. I have to leave—"

"You're not going anywhere," Sasuke said with finality, crossing his arms over his chest. Naruto carefully extracted the beetle from Kiba's palm and held it awkwardly, bringing it up to his face, only to stare at it, wide-eyed.

"The hell I'm not," Kiba spat. He wasn't going to be a prisoner, no matter who his keeper was.

Sakura was standing up, and Sasuke had made up his mind. Lee looked apologetic and ridiculous in his skintight green costume.

"Until we figure out the truth, you're going to have to stay here," Sasuke stated. "In layman's terms, I don't trust you."

Kiba bristled, ready to fight, but someone took hold of his arm, and Kiba was surprised to find that it was Naruto. His gaze was serious, telling Kiba to just obey.

"Fuck you," Kiba said to him, and to all of them, for any of the help he had ever given them, and for this repayment.

Sakura gripped his arm and started him down another hallway, but Sasuke called his name. When Kiba turned, livid, the captain asked, "How long have you known I was a lord?"

Kiba snorted, not knowing what the hell Sasuke was talking about. "I only know about one Lord, Uchiha, and you've got to find someone to pop that ego of yours if you think you even compare."

This answer seemed to surprise everyone, Sasuke the most. Kiba didn't get to relish in it though, before he was tugged away to the darkest recesses of the ship, lost once again to the world outside.

* * *

The Avenger was an economical masterpiece. The Confederacy had driven up currency rates, of course, so Pirates could really only steal the parts they needed for their ships. It was obvious that a great deal of stealing had been done in order to make this ship in particular come together.

The first and most prime example was that the cell Kiba was placed in had bars; long shoots of metal that Kiba could wrap his hands around without getting barbequed and that were cold to the touch.

"A fucking cage? Really?" Kiba kicked a bar with his boot and listened as the metal vibrated. When the sound dulled and no one came racing down to berate him, he swung around and eyed his holdings. Piles of empty crates had claimed half of the cell, which led Kiba to conclude that hostages weren't frequently taken. There was no bed, and no place to sit except for the cold, hard floor.

After throwing his hands into the hair in disgust, Kiba whirled back around and grabbed a couple of bars, deciding to be as irritating as possible. "You're all a bunch of selfish dickheads!"

He rattled around a bit but didn't get any sort of response; not even the thumps of footsteps from the level above. "Ugh!" Kiba growled, and he collapsed his head forward, resting it between the two bars he was holding. He stared at the floor.

[i]_Forty-three scratches…_[/i]

Kiba clenched his eyes closed when a sickly feeling flooded his insides, thick like syrup. "I hate this fucking place," Kiba groaned to himself, and mostly 'this fucking place' meant his life. Akamaru, his one[i] _true_[/i] friend, was lost in space somewhere and meanwhile Kiba was busy getting his ass handed to him on a plate by both the Confederacy [i]_and_[/i] space pirates.

Having been led down a rickety metal staircase to his current doom, Kiba recognized the whooshing sound of the door at the top as it opened.He tilted his head just enough to take a gander at whoever was coming down, their boots clunking against the stairs with more force than necessary.

Of course, it was Naruto. He looked like he did every time they met, smooth, cocky, and under control. His torso was an artist's dream, snug beneath a plain black shirt, and from a slim fitted pair of dark pants the pirate tugged something out from a pocket at his waist.

"Food?" Naruto grinned at him and held up a package of what looked to be dried fruit. Kiba maintained his scowl and said nothing. Naruto frowned and slipped his fingers into the package and finagled a piece out for himself. "You're missing out, man."

Thinking of the much more important things he was missing out on by being locked away in the cargo bay of some pirate ship, Kiba continued to glare, not even dignifying Naruto with a response.

He hated the way the pirate's eyes lingered on him, and for a brief moment he remembered Naruto's fingers tracing the scars on his back. His scowl altered to an expression that was a bit more defensive, and, afraid he wouldn't be able to control his anger anymore, he let his eyes drop to the floor below.

"So," Naruto said in between chews, "Where have [i]_you_[/i] been these past couple of months?"

Kiba didn't reply. It was the same thing, no matter whose side he was on. His silence was the only thing completely his own. The only thing he could control was what other people knew about him. Kiba heard Naruto step closer and saw his shadow grow darker on the floor, but he didn't look up.

Surprisingly, Naruto leaned down so that he could catch Kiba's gaze from below. "Is the floor really more interesting than my face?"

Kiba rolled his eyes and stepped to the side, moving to grab a new set of bars a foot to his left, and rest his head between them, once again, staring at the floor. Naruto's piercing gaze was lost for a moment, but it returned when the blond simply followed, his head still peering up from below.

"This is kind of childish, isn't it?"

Kiba took in Naruto, who popped another piece of fruit into his mouth and chewed languidly before offering him one, as if to call some sort of truce. Kiba felt his guard relinquish a little, and he wasn't even sure why.

"I'm not hungry," he said honestly. If he was, he didn't feel it. Other things were weighing on his mind, and really, he hadn't eaten normally for a while. Naruto gazed at him skeptically before nudging the piece up to Kiba's lips.

"Come on," he poked. "Eat."

Kiba pursed his lips and moved to the side, sliding another bar down. He glared at Naruto with irritation, and a small bit of mistrust. "What, has it got a truth serum in it?"

Righting himself, Naruto popped the fruit into his mouth and smirked. "Why, you got something to hide?" He pulled another piece out and held it out to Kiba, nudging it forward when Kiba didn't respond. Naruto frowned, and said, "Look, I don't care about your stupid pride. You say you're not hungry, but you're a fucking skeleton under there."

Kiba watched as Naruto motioned towards his jacket, and he felt even more self-conscious. He wasn't sure why it mattered to him that no one—Naruto especially—knew what he had gone through. It was embarrassing. It was shameful. It was proof that he'd lost.

"Eat," Naruto commanded again, and this time Kiba parted his lips and accepted the dried peach hovering just below his nose. He chewed it carefully, trying to decide if it did taste differently than he'd expect, but it tasted rich and sweet and it stuck to his teeth like most dried foods tended to do.

Naruto held another piece up to him and Kiba ate it, and his stomach growled. Funny, he thought, that he must actually have been hungry. This continued for the better part of ten minutes, until the package was empty. Naruto crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into a receptacle near the staircase with ease.

"So, for starters, I believe you." Naruto's words were honest, but Kiba knew there was more coming. True enough, Naruto continued. "I think Sasuke does too, but really, your story is hokey. And there has been so much gossip flying around about you that I think you [i]_need_[/i] to give me a full story, or something."

Kiba snorted. "Even if you say it nicely, you're still just trying to interrogate me."

The ship grumbled as the engines seemed to flicker to life at the rear, and while Kiba gripped the bars to keep his footing, Naruto stood like a brick wall. He gazed at Kiba as if he had said something strange.

"Well, yeah. Last time I see you, you off a [i]_legendary_[/i] Confederate commander. You talk about getting me back to my ship, and ask all of these questions about the code and the compass. Next thing I know, a month later, word's out that someone from the Inuzuka family's going to be transporting the compass to some fucking hidden location—and well, we did some research, and you're the [i]_only_[/i] Inuzuka who does this type of shit for the government." Naruto's voice had risen as he explained, proving to Kiba that as much as Naruto probably [i]_wanted_[/i] to trust him, he didn't. Or maybe the confusion was upsetting him. Either way, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Kiba to defend himself.

The ship groaned and Kiba sank down to the floor to sit, not rising to the bait as quickly as he was sure Naruto wanted him to. Naruto's eyes followed him, and he came forward, and surprisingly enough to Kiba, sat down just opposite of him.

"I was reporting on Hyperious when the compass was stolen," Kiba looked Naruto in the eye, telling the truth, but still not wanting to admit his role. "It was a big deal. I sent Akamaru to you to keep him safe."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, expecting more. "…and?"

"And he obviously didn't make it here."

"Kiba," Naruto said seriously. "What have you been doing these past few months?"

Running his hands through his hair, Kiba couldn't bring himself to look Naruto in the eye. He knew that Naruto knew that too, and he knew how guilty he made him look. But what was he supposed to say? Admitting he had stolen the compass for them now was a lost cause, because he was just planning on taking it back.

"What happened to your back?" Naruto asked bluntly, in a tone that made Kiba feel like he had probably been holding back out of some sort of respect. After all, Naruto hadn't brought it up with Sasuke. "Let me see it."

"What?" Kiba soured. "No way." He started to scoot back, but Naruto's hand gripped his ankle and tugged him forward. Kiba slid easily across the floor, and was a little agitated at how much stronger Naruto seemed to be. He tried to kick free, but Naruto wasn't having it.

"I just want to help you." Naruto growled, looking earnest. His other hand reached beyond the bars and captured the lapel of Kiba's jacket, and pulled him to his knees, face merely inches from the bars. Kiba gripped the cage tightly and yelled, "I don't need your help!"

"Obviously you do!" Naruto shouted back, leaning forward with fury burning deep in his cerulean eyes. "You're a fucking mess! I've only met you [i]_two_[/i] times and I can tell!"

Kiba exhaled a few times, shaking. It felt good to yell, but he wasn't happy with knowing that Naruto could read him like a book. He also didn't like the fact Naruto had pointed out that they'd only met twice, but he couldn't figure out why that small comment made his stomach feel like lead.

"I can't show you my back," Kiba remembered what he felt like in the prison at Hyperious, knowing that if someone hit the hammer just right, he'd shatter. Naruto was hitting the nail on the head just by [i]_looking_[/i] at him, and he knew that if Naruto kept pounding, he wouldn't be able to lie.

"You can't or you won't?" Naruto threw back; ignoring the desperate look Kiba knew was on his face.

"Naruto—"

"Tell me what the fuck happened!"

"I was in prison!" Kiba shouted, surprised when the words left his mouth. Morino had done much worse to him, and gotten far less of a response. Naruto was different, though, and Kiba knew this. They had something between them; like an understanding. You were lucky to meet a few people in your life you connected with on that level, and it was natural to feel bad about lying to them, or being dishonest. Even if Kiba knew that Naruto's loyalty would side with Sasuke long before himself.

There was such a look of surprise on Naruto's face, and Kiba felt the pirate's grip loosen on his jacket. Instinct told him to skitter away; to flee to the darkest corner of his cell and pretend like he hadn't said a thing. But it was too late for that now, and the shock Naruto had was now melting into confusion.

"But…that doesn't even make sense. Why the hell would they arrest [i]_you_[/i]…?" He seemed to be working through the details in his own mind. "Was it because you shot that Hyuuga?"

Kiba snorted and let his head sink against the bars again, laughing bitterly to himself. His head felt like it was spinning. It was screaming for him to shut up, to not say anything, to just hide and do what he had to do. And suddenly Kiba realized that he had been doing exactly that the entire time he had been imprisoned. Hiding in the farthest recesses of his mind.

"I stole it," he said so softly he barely heard himself.

"What?" Naruto said loudly, as if to emphasize the fact that Kiba's voice was merely inaudible.

"[i]_I_[/i] was the one that stole the compass!" Kiba's eyes flickered up to meet Naruto's and he was breathing hard, and his mind was racing. He felt like bricks had fallen from his shoulders, but he also felt like he had failed himself, in that he had really wanted to be able to do it—to get the compass back and pretend like nothing had happened.

"What?" Naruto repeated, but this time he looked perplexed. And then he smiled crookedly. "Haha, that's pretty funny. You had me going—"

"Naruto," Kiba looked his friend in the eye, feeling his palms grow sweaty as they gripped the bars, and his knees shake as they struggled to support his weight in his kneeling position.

Naruto stopped laughing. In fact, he stared for a long time in disbelief. The intensity in Kiba's declaration had died down, and now he merely watched Naruto watch him, deciding that he'd either be believed or not.

Fingers clutching Kiba's jacket tightly, Naruto started to yank it to the side, his eyes suddenly looking half torn between panic and rage. Kiba jolted at the tugs and tried to pull away, but Naruto's voice was so deep and serious that it made him still in an instant.

"Show me your back."

"Naruto, I said—"

Naruto yanked him forward with such force that Kiba could barely brace himself against the bars. The pirate pressed his forehead to the metal, only an inch from Kiba's, and pled. "Please."

Over two months with Morino, having said nothing. Two months being beaten, carved, threatened…and with Naruto, it had only taken a half hour to give all of his secrets away. Kiba weighed the look in Naruto's eyes and let his forehead come forward to rest against the other's, and closed his eyes.

"It would be easier if you weren't so nice to me."

"Easier to what?" Naruto asked.

[i]_To betray you_[/i]_._ Kiba shook his head and moved back, working his jacket off. Naruto's fingers slipped from it as Kiba stood up and tugged his t-shirt off, giving Naruto a look of warning before he turned around, baring his back to the other man.

"What the [i]_fuck_[/i]…" Naruto stood up, and Kiba heard him do so. He heard Naruto shuffle forward, boots scuffling as he drew himself as close as he could to the cell. He nearly jumped when a fingertip touched the upper most part of his back and traced the sentences down, how old folk did when they read books, letting their finger guide the way, line by line.

"It's my oath," Kiba said bitterly. "In case you were wondering."

"Whoever did this to you—I'll fucking kill them."

Kiba felt his skin tingle at the intensity behind Naruto's proclamation, and also because the other man's finger had made it to the lowest dip of his back. "It's—"

"It's all scarring," Naruto was saying, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Badly. Kiba, you need Sakura to take a look at it—"

"No!" Kiba whirled around and danced backwards, out of Naruto's reach. "No," he repeated more calmly.

The skin on Naruto's forehead drew in with irritation. "Kiba, stop being such a pussy, and see a doctor—"

"No one else is looking at it!" Kiba snapped. Like hell he'd be called a pussy for enduring what he had, and for Naruto's _compass_, too. Naruto seemed to realize his mistake because he held his hands up and took a step backwards.

"Fine, I get it. Just…stay here a minute," he said, and he started off towards the metal staircase.

Kiba threw his shirt onto the ground and yelled, "Yeah, because I can [i]_really_[/i] go anywhere!"

The door above whooshed open and whooshed closed, and then Kiba was left to wait._**)**_ He listened to the ship murmur and footsteps hustle from above, and felt his back sting now that it was met with cool, free flowing air. He had guessed that it probably didn't look so great. He hadn't really made any efforts to get it treated, and Morino had never seemed worried about what he saw. Thinking about Morino made him feel like years had passed already, but when confronted with the fact he was in a cell [i]_again_[/i], it felt more like he had just been released from Hyperious today.

The ship groaned and the lights in Kiba's cell, and the entire cargo bay, went out. Kiba groaned when his body reacted immediately, and he sank to his knees, crawled over to a wall and scooted back against it before pulling his knees forward and against his chest.

"Really?" He said to no one in particular. Or maybe he was talking to the higher power he didn't really believe in. Which brought another topic. Sasuke had called himself a lord. What the hell had that meant?

Kiba heard the door whoosh open and a fuzzy light filtered down, followed by Naruto holding a handful of what looked to be medical supplies. Naruto flashed the light around, at first finding it hard to find Kiba, but when he saw Kiba huddled in a corner, flinching, he shook his head.

"You falling asleep?"

Kiba didn't really answer, only came a bit closer to where Naruto seemed to want him. "I can't let you out or go in, you know," Naruto said nonchalantly, "So you're just going to have to sit with your back to me so I can try to patch you up myself."

That was a strangely attractive and terrifying thought, considering the fact that Kiba remembered Naruto hating the shot he'd received. "Do you even have any medical training?" he asked shrewdly.

Naruto snorted and motioned for him to turn around. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't take extensive training to apply ointment and bandages."

"You don't have to," Kiba stated as he started to turn, knowing Naruto would argue regardless. He heard Naruto settle down on the other side and hissed when a gob of ointment plopped onto his sore skin, only to be smoothed in by calloused fingers.

"I've already started so I might as well finish," Naruto made a point, even though he wouldn't have stopped regardless. "So…what happened? I've never been to Hyperious. I've heard things about it though. The gallows are there, right?"

Kiba nodded, but didn't really go into detail about what he'd seen. When he was quiet long enough for Naruto to get antsy, the pirate tried again. "What happened to the compass?"

Kiba swallowed. "I gave it to Akamaru."

Naruto's hands sifted across his back, and copious gobs of ointment dribbled onto the skin of Kiba's back. He was starting to realize that he didn't feel much of what Naruto was doing, only the pressure. The ointment seemed to numb everything, and it felt surprisingly good. He let his eyes drift closed as Naruto prodded where he needed to, and soothed in other places.

"Okay. So where's Akamaru?" Naruto asked, sounding like he was paying more attention to Kiba's back than their conversation. It seemed to catch up with him though, because he paused in his ministrations and Kiba could hear the dawning of realization in his tone.

"You've got to be shitting me," Naruto said. "You thought we had Akamaru—"

"I sent him to you," Kiba told Naruto, for what felt like the hundredth time. "And again, he obviously didn't make it."

Naruto was quiet long enough for Kiba to worry. Then, suddenly, Naruto was shifting around, and a hand came around to Kiba's side and poked him until he took the offered end of a bandage.

"Your pup's got the compass and now he's missing," Naruto sounded out. "Well, we're fucked."

Kiba helped Naruto wrap the bandage over his back and torso, and they took turns passing it to each other to get it all the way around. "Not entirely. You have the tracer bug."

"Ugh, thanks for reminding me," Naruto whined in disgust. "You, uh, know I have to tell Sasuke about all of this, right?"

Kiba figured as much. They finished up the last bit of wrapping and Kiba felt Naruto pin the bandage in place on his side, just below his ribs. And then, out of nowhere, Naruto's arm wrapped around Kiba's waist and tugged him backwards so much that his back clanged against the metal.

"Fuck!" Kiba scrambled, but Naruto's hold was tight. He felt the other man's breath on his neck and swallowed.

"Sorry," Naruto breathed, and his nose nuzzled against what it could of Kiba's neck. "You sent the compass to us."

Kiba hadn't really thought of it that way, but he nodded regardless. Naruto, in one of his awkward trains of thought that seemed to be on the same page as Kiba's, said, "Were you thinking I'd left you behind?"

Kiba let out a terse breath, not sure how to say 'you nailed it' to such a question. He had already felt like a fool for thinking it in the first place. Naruto interpreted his quietness correctly and Kiba felt his back arch when Naruto's lips brushed across his neck, right before latching on at a place that made Kiba groan uncontrollably. It had been so long since he'd thought about anything related to sex that he felt like a fucking virgin, and the simplest touch from Naruto was enough to make his heart rate skyrocket.

When Naruto's lips released him, Kiba was sure there was a mark. Naruto settled his chin on the part of Kiba's shoulder it could reach through the bars. "I'm sorry," he apologized, though not for the hickey. "You probably waited…Well, fuck, whatever. I'll tear the fucking lungs out of the sonofabitch that did this to you, and…fuck the Confederacy, Kiba. You're not still working for them, are you?"

Whether it was luck or misfortune, the ship met some turbulence and Kiba didn't have to answer. The door whooshed open and someone shouted that Naruto was needed, and as simple as that, Kiba was alone once again in the dark. When the memories assaulted him of Morino pressing him forward, blade in hand, Kiba simply closed his eyes and thought of Naruto's fingers pressed to his skin.

Kiba still considered himself pretty fucked up in the head. If he wasn't betraying one side, he was betraying the other. And he was betraying himself if he thought Naruto would ever forgive him for what he was planning on doing.


End file.
